Penalties under the C&E reforms

The C&E reforms introduce new penalties for heavy vehicle mass, dimension and load restraint offences. The penalties aim to:

• Encourage a culture of compliance within the heavy vehicle industry.
• Act as a deterrent to those who have (in the past) been willing to break road transport laws to gain a commercial advantage.

Penalties will be both administrative and court imposed and can be tailored to address specific types of offences. For example, the C&E legislation distinguishes between first time and continuing offenders, with more serious sanctions for those who persistently break the law.

Examples of administrative penalties the RTA may issue include:

• Improvement notices – which identify areas where a business needs to improve its systems to ensure compliance.
• Formal warnings – where it is a minor breach and the person had taken all reasonable steps to prevent the breach and was unaware of the breach.
• Infringement notices – can be an alternative to court proceedings for a less serious offence.

Courts will still issue fines as well as having the ability to impose:

• Commercial benefits penalties.
• Supervisory intervention orders.
• Licensing and registration sanctions.
• Prohibition orders.

For more information about the new penalties go to the National Transport Commission website www.ntc.gov.au