Information for Industry

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Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (the Standard) incentivises the development and supply of more fuel efficient and low or zero emissions cars to the Australian market. Learn what the Standard means for your business below and how you can take part in industry engagement sessions.

When the Standard takes effect

The New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Act 2024 is now law and we're working on getting ready for when it commences on 1 January 2025. This includes the development of supporting legislation, establishment of a New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Regulator (NVES Regulator) and uplift of existing IT capabilities. You will have 6 months to prepare for the new requirements. The accumulation of units and potential penalties will start on 1 July 2025.

Industry engagement

We are committed to working closely with industry to ensure you understand your requirements under the Standard and that its implementation is effective. We are hosting regular industry engagement sessions, including in-person workshops, monthly webinars and fortnightly meetings of 2 technical working groups. Please contact the Cleaner Cars team for more information on how to take part.

Our implementation timeline with key dates and milestones is currently being updated.

How the Standard will apply

The Standard works by setting an average CO₂ target for all new covered vehicles. Car suppliers, must meet or beat the CO₂ target by supplying more fuel-efficient, low or zero emission vehicles, or cover the shortfall in the following two years by selling more efficient vehicles that are below the CO₂ target, and/or by purchasing units to offset their emissions values. Over time, the CO₂ target is lowered to become more stringent.

The target is applied to any covered vehicle that is entered onto the Register of Approved Vehicles for the first time from 1 July 2025. The NVES Act sets out the target for covered vehicles for the first 5 years of the Standard’s operation (known as the introductory period). The Minister can set the targets for the years following the introductory period by legislative instrument.

New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Regulator

We are now establishing the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Regulator (NVES Regulator) to oversee the day-to-day administration of the NVES Act. This includes supporting industry to comply with legislation, maintaining the unit registry, monitoring and reporting, and undertaking compliance related activities including issuing of infringement notices. The NVES Regulator will monitor and assess performance against the targets and ensure compliance by:

Calculating the sales weighted average mass of all vehicles entered onto the Register of Approved Vehicles by each car manufacturer.
Calculating the sales weighted average CO₂ emissions of all vehicles entered onto the Register of Approved Vehicles by each car manufacturer.
Comparing the mass and CO₂ level to the limit curve and determining an interim emissions value (IEV).

If the results are below the curve, you have met the target for that year and will accrue tradeable units. If the results are above the limit curve, you have not met the target for that year and you will have 2 years to bring your result back to zero (for example, by offsetting with traded units), before a financial penalty becomes payable. Penalty notices for values that are above zero will be issued from 1 February 2028 onwards.

The NVES Regulator will establish a New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Unit Registry (Registry) to track and monitor emissions related information and unit transactions.

Further information will be available on this page once the NVES Regulator is established.

Supporting legislation

To support the commencement of the Standard, a number of legislative instruments are required. These include the establishment of exemptions under the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Act 2024 (NVES Act), the development of NVES rules and updates to other legislative instruments under the Road Vehicles Standards Act 2018.

Exemptions

Guided by the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Exemption Principles provided to us by the Minister for Transport, the Hon Catherine King MP, we undertook 60-days of public consultation on the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Determination 2024.

Following this input from stakeholders, the Minister has made the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard Determination 2024. The determination will come into effect from 1 January 2025, alongside the NVES Act. The determination exempts vehicles that do not have an Australian light vehicle CO₂ test mandated by an Australian Design Rule (ADR). The Minister has provided a Statement of Reasons outlining the reasons for the decision.

Amendment to the Register of Approved Vehicles (RAV) determination

On 9 September 2024, the Hon Catherine King MP signed the Road Vehicle Standards (Information on the Register of Approved Vehicles) Amendment Determination 2024. Schedule 2 of this sets out the necessary data fields that you will be required to complete if you are supplying a vehicle covered under the NVES Standard to the Australian market from 1 July 2025. Emissions information will be required for all vehicles which are entered onto the RAV on or after 1 July 2025.

Upgrades to IT systems

The NVES Regulator is considering the use of the existing RAV and Road Vehicle Regulator (ROVER) systems for capturing required data, which you may already be familiar with.

We are currently upgrading the RAV and ROVER systems to enable you to enter key information about the vehicles you are supplying and whether they apply under the Standard.

We are also enhancing our IT systems to support reporting, auditing, compliance and enforcement activities for the Standard.

Resource hub

Below are key resources and related legislation where you can learn more about the Standard.

Contact

For more information or to find out how you can take part in regular industry engagement sessions, please contact the Cleaner Cars team.