'Bitter blow' for caravan buyers

The Caravan Industry Association of Australia has slammed a government decision to push back the deadline for all RV manufacturers to comply with tough new compliance laws by another 12 months.

Until recently all Australian RV manufacturers and importers were facing a July 2022 deadline to register for the new Road Vehicle Standards Act (RVSA) that replaces the previous Motor Vehicle Standards Act (1989) legislation.

Part of a long-threatened shake up of RV manufacturing standards designed to protect local buyers against backyard manufacturers and shoddy imports, the new Road Vehicle Standards (RVS) legislation will apply to all trailers with an aggregrate trailer mass (ATM) of 4500kg or less.

"The extension of the transitional provisions of the Road Vehicle Standards Act (RVSA) delaying the requirement to supply new vehicles under a type approval system for low ATM trailers (including caravans and campervans) is a bitter blow for caravanning consumers, and those manufacturers and importers who would have been ready for the 1 July deadline," the peak industry body recently said in an email to its members.

"With the looming election and no further opportunity to amend the legislation, under mounting pressure from particularly the mobile crane industry threatening construction jobs, the Deputy Prime Minister with the support of Labor, took the easy way out by delaying the transitional provisions to 1 July 2023..."

The CIAA said it was the only industry association affected by the new laws which opposed the extension, and argued that other sectors including the crane industry could have been "carved out", leaving low ATM trailers to comply from July 1 this year.

CIAA CEO Stuart Lamont said the decision to delay was unnecessary for many RV manufacturers that "had collectively spent millions of dollars in preparation of the new regime, and while a small number of businesses may not have met the original deadline, those genuinely committed to getting their house in order would have only been briefly inconvenienced".

“Those businesses, including local firms, that are too busy or believe that the new system is too hard, have no place in manufacturing, importing or retailing caravanning and camping products to the Australian market. The Government’s proposed extension does nothing more than reward their apathy and ignorance," Lamont said.

The CIAA has decided that only RVSA-approved manufacturer members will be eligible for RVMAP accreditation after September 1, 2022.