Executive duties under the HVNL – What are they and how can you comply?

As an executive of a company in the Chain of Responsibility (CoR), you must exercise due diligence to ensure your business complies with the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).

However, a recent case before the Supreme Court of South Australia demonstrates that some executives still have misconceptions about their due diligence duty obligations. In this case, an executive argued that she was obliged under the executives' duty in the HVNL to disclose safety issues and non-compliance to third parties. While the court found that this disclosure did not form part of the executives' duty, this does not mean that executives do not have significant responsibilities under the HVNL.

In this article, we provide an overview of these duties, including the types of actions executives can take to comply with their HVNL obligations and what happens if they fail to do so.