New Law for Sharing of Critical Safety Information for New Motor Vehicles

A new law has been introduced by the Australian Government, the Competition and Consumer (Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme) Rules 2021, which mandates that all diagnostic, service, and repair information, provided to car dealerships and manufacturer preferred repairers, be made available for Australian repairers and Registered Training Organizations to purchase.

The purpose of this legislation is to ensure that there is a process for specified Australian businesses to access critical safety information on Hydrogen systems, high voltage systems, electrical propulsion systems, and systems which interconnect those components to allow those businesses to safely perform repair and maintenance work on those systems or develop training programs to instruct people on how to safely perform those works.

The law outlines who is obligated to provide a method for specified businesses (defined within the law) to purchase this information at a fair market value.

This law is similar to when the Government mandated that organisations provide safety data sheets for their dangerous goods and hazardous substance products, ruling the need for the information to allow people to perform their work safely overrules company intellectual property rights within the restriction of the law.

The law came into effect on the 1st of July 2022, as part of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, with more information available here or by contacting contact AASRA or ACCC.