Fuel, Energy and Power Resources (State of Emergency) Regulations (No. 2) 2026

The direct duty falls on a “person” who stops offering a particular kind of motor fuel for retail sale at a particular place because there is no more stock for retail sale there (regulation 4(1) and (2)). The text does not restrict “person” to a particular business structure or expressly confine it to a retailer. Its application depends on whether the person and conduct meet the stated trigger. A person’s identity must be included in each required notification.

The duty is location- and fuel-specific. A stock shortage for one kind of motor fuel at one place is the relevant unit in regulation 4. The text does not say that a shortage at one site automatically triggers a notification for other sites, or that a shortage of one fuel type requires reporting about other fuel types. If a person restarts offering the affected fuel at that place, the separate restart-notification rules apply under regulation 4(3) or the advance option in regulation 4(4).

The Commissioner receives the notifications. The Commissioner’s meaning is incorporated from section 3(1) of the Petroleum Products Pricing Act 1983 (regulation 3(1)); that definition is not reproduced in the supplied material. The Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation may make an order specifying notification methods and may give an individual written direction exempting a person from regulation 4(2) and (3), if the Minister considers that just and reasonable (regulations 5(2) and 6).

The public may receive information if the Commissioner publishes it for authorised purposes. Ministers, the Commissioner and bodies or persons administering the Act under section 42 are “information users” for regulation 7. The regulations also authorise disclosures to national bodies and agencies or authorities of other Australian States and Territories for authorised purposes. The supplied text does not identify particular affected businesses, sites, or any person who has received an exemption.

The central duty is to notify the Commissioner as soon as reasonably practicable after the person stops offering the relevant fuel for retail sale because of no or insufficient stock (regulation 4(2)). The notification must identify the person and kind of motor fuel, give details of the place, and state that there is no more stock for retail sale there. The regulations do not specify a fixed reporting deadline or prescribe a particular evidentiary document to accompany the notification.

When the person restarts offering the fuel for retail sale, regulation 4(3) requires another notification as soon as reasonably practicable. It must include the person, fuel type and place, state that stock is available, and state that the person has restarted offering the fuel for sale. Under regulation 4(4), this second notification is unnecessary if, before restarting, the person instead provides a notification containing those identifying details, a statement that stock is or will be available, and the date and time when the person will restart offering the fuel. The provision makes advance notice an alternative reporting route, not a general exemption from notifying.

Notifications must be given through the FuelWatch website or in a manner provided by a ministerial order (regulation 5(1)). The Minister has authority to make such an order, but no order specifying an alternative method is included in the supplied text.

There are also information-handling permissions. A person giving a regulation 4 notification is authorised to give that information to the Commissioner (regulation 7(2)). The Commissioner may disclose information to the public for authorised purposes, including by publishing it on FuelWatch or another appropriate channel (regulation 7(3)). Other information users may use or disclose information for authorised purposes, but may not disclose it to the public under that general authority (regulations 7(4) and (5)). Regulation 6 allows a written ministerial direction to exempt a person from the requirements in regulation 4(2) and (3), for as long as the direction remains unrevoked.

The supplied regulations do not state a penalty amount, create an offence in express terms, or set out an investigation, prosecution or review procedure for non-compliance. That is a statement about this instrument’s text, not a conclusion that the enabling Act or another law contains no relevant offence, penalty or enforcement power. The supplied material refers to the Fuel, Energy and Power Resources Act 1972 but does not reproduce its provisions, so any Act-based consequences cannot be established from this text alone.

The regulations do identify some administrative mechanisms. The Minister may make an order setting an alternative method for giving notifications (regulation 5(2)). The Minister may also give a person a written direction that removes the requirements in regulation 4(2) and (3), if the Minister considers it just and reasonable (regulation 6(1)). The direction operates while it has not been revoked (regulation 6(2)). The text does not set out criteria beyond the Minister’s stated opinion, a procedure for applying, reasons requirements, or a review mechanism.

The Commissioner’s role includes receiving reports and potentially publishing information for authorised purposes. Regulation 7 authorises particular giving, use and disclosure of information, and provides that no civil or criminal liability is incurred in respect of a giving, disclosure or use authorised by that regulation. It also states that an authorised act is not to be regarded as breaching a legal confidentiality or secrecy duty, professional ethics or standards, or employment conduct principles (regulation 7(7)). This protection is tied to conduct authorised by regulation 7; the text does not say that it immunises unrelated conduct or a failure to meet the notification requirements.

Accordingly, a full account of sanctions or enforcement would require the relevant provisions of the Act and any other applicable written law. No penalty should be inferred solely from the reporting duties in regulation 4.

The regulations operate under the Fuel, Energy and Power Resources Act 1972 and expressly refer to provisions of that Act. The note to regulation 2 says that, in accordance with section 57(2) of the Act, the regulations continue while either the state of emergency declared by the Fuel, Energy and Power Resources (Declaration of State of Emergency) Order 2026 or that state as renewed by the Fuel, Energy and Power Resources (Declaration of State of Emergency) Order (No. 2) 2026 subsists. The supplied material does not include section 57 or the emergency orders themselves, so the precise statutory conditions for continuation cannot be assessed here.

The Petroleum Products Pricing Act 1983 supplies several definitions used by the reporting scheme. The Commissioner is defined by section 3(1), and “kind of motor fuel” and “exempt sale” are tied to section 22H (regulation 3(1)). As a result, the scope of the reporting duty cannot be determined in full from the regulations alone where those incorporated definitions matter. The section 22H text is not reproduced in the supplied material.

Regulation 7 also links information handling to Part III and section 42 of the 1972 Act. “Authorised purposes” include preventing supplies or services from being disposed of in a manner prejudicial to the attainment of Part III’s objects, and making community resources available for use in a manner calculated to serve community interests (regulation 7(1)). The definition of “information user” includes persons or bodies administering the Act under section 42. The supplied text does not state the objects of Part III or the scope of section 42, so those elements should not be expanded beyond the wording provided.

The reporting provisions distinguish retail sales from exempt sales by incorporating the other Act’s definition. They do not, on their face, replace the underlying pricing or emergency-law regimes. The supplied material does not explain how the regulations interact with any other reporting, privacy, corporate or consumer-protection laws. Those interactions require the relevant provisions of those laws, rather than assumptions based on this instrument alone.

The compilation table identifies the original instrument as the Fuel, Energy and Power Resources (State of Emergency) Regulations (No. 2) 2026, published as SL 2026/56 on 30 April 2026, and commencing on 1 May 2026 under regulation 2. It also records the Fuel, Energy and Power Resources Regulations Amendment (State of Emergency) Regulations 2026, Part 3, as SL 2026/196, published on 16 September 2026 and commencing on 30 September 2026.

The compiled text includes a specific amendment note at regulation 2: “[Regulation 2 amended: SL 2026/196 r. 6.]” That shows regulation 2 was amended by regulation 6 of the later instrument. The supplied compilation does not set out the earlier and amended versions side by side, or reproduce the amending provision itself. It is therefore possible to identify the provision affected and the amending instrument, but not to give a precise redline account of the textual change from the information supplied.

The current text of regulation 2 states that the regulations commence on 1 May 2026 and includes a note about continuation during the specified emergency or its renewal. The compilation table indicates that Part 3 of SL 2026/196 commenced on 30 September 2026. The supplied document does not identify any other amendment to these regulations. That does not establish that no other instrument or relevant amendment exists outside this compilation; it records only what this source shows.

The legislation is a compilation rather than a full legislative history. It gives publication and commencement information for the listed instruments, but no explanatory memorandum, second-reading speech, policy review or account of the reasons for the amendment is supplied. Any account of legislative purpose beyond the regulation’s stated mechanisms would therefore go beyond this source.

The supplied legislation contains no judgments, case names, tribunal decisions, enforcement outcomes or litigation references. It therefore does not establish whether a court or tribunal has interpreted the notification trigger, the phrase “as soon as reasonably practicable”, the meaning of “insufficient stock”, or the Minister’s exemption power. No case can responsibly be attributed to this instrument on the basis of the supplied text.

Several questions could arise in a dispute, but the regulations alone do not show whether any have arisen. For example, the text does not quantify when remaining stock becomes “insufficient” under regulation 3(2), or specify what evidence establishes that a person stopped offering fuel because of a stock shortage under regulation 4(1). It also leaves “as soon as reasonably practicable” without a fixed time period. Those are textual features, not evidence of actual litigation or settled judicial interpretation.

The exemption provision uses the Minister’s opinion that an exemption is “just and reasonable” as its stated threshold (regulation 6(1)). The supplied text does not describe a procedure for seeking a direction, require reasons, or state an internal or external review route. It would be speculative to describe how a court would review that decision without applicable legal sources and any relevant judgments.

The compilation note and table record amendment instruments, not litigation. The absence of litigation material from this document cannot establish that no proceedings have occurred. A reliable litigation history would require legal databases, court and tribunal records, and potentially enforcement or government materials. None of those sources is included here, so this section is limited to what the legislation itself reveals.

The trigger is narrower than a general duty to report supply problems, but it also reaches more than a completely empty tank. Regulation 4 applies when a person stops offering retail sale because there is no more stock, and regulation 3(2) says that includes insufficient stock. The text does not specify how much stock is “insufficient”. That leaves a practical boundary question, particularly where a site has some stock but cannot continue ordinary retail offers.

The timing language is “as soon as reasonably practicable”, used for both the stockout notice and the ordinary restart notice (regulations 4(2) and (3)). The regulations do not replace that standard with a set number of hours, nor do they specify how weekends, system outages or competing operational demands affect it. The source does not provide an interpretation of the phrase.

The advance restart route has particular content and timing. It must be given before the person restarts offering fuel and must state that stock is available or will be available, as well as the planned restart date and time (regulation 4(4)). It is this qualifying advance notice that displaces the later notification under regulation 4(3). The text does not expressly explain how a change to the planned restart time is handled.

The reporting unit is a particular fuel at a particular place. Definitions imported from the Petroleum Products Pricing Act 1983 determine what counts as a kind of motor fuel and which sales are excluded as exempt sales. Those definitions are not reproduced here. The information may be made public by the Commissioner for authorised purposes, while other information users cannot use regulation 7(4) as authority to disclose it to the public (regulations 7(3)-(5)). Finally, the transition rule is limited to a person who stopped offering the fuel during April 2026 and remained without stock at the beginning of 1 May. It does not purport to cover every earlier stockout.

The regulations describe a sequence of information requirements rather than a broader operational fuel-supply standard. For a person within regulation 4(1), the initial report is due as soon as reasonably practicable after stopping retail offers because no or insufficient stock is available at that place. Its required content is the person’s identity, the kind of motor fuel, details of the place, and a statement that there is no more stock for retail sale there (regulation 4(2)). The text does not prescribe a form or supporting records.

When retail offers restart, the ordinary report under regulation 4(3) must state that stock is available and that the person has restarted offering the fuel, alongside the identifying details. Alternatively, before the restart, regulation 4(4) permits a report stating that stock is or will be available and identifying the restart date and time. A qualifying advance report means the later regulation 4(3) report is not required. The regulation does not expressly say whether or how a revised restart time must be reported.

The prescribed channel is the FuelWatch website unless a ministerial order provides another method (regulation 5(1)). The supplied text does not include an order specifying an alternative method. For a person who was already out of stock during April 2026 and remained without stock at the beginning of 1 May, regulation 8 treats the person as having stopped offering the fuel at the beginning of 1 May for the purpose of applying regulation 4.

The text also provides for a written ministerial exemption from the requirements in regulations 4(2) and (3), where the Minister considers exemption just and reasonable (regulation 6). These provisions identify the elements and timing of the reporting scheme; they do not resolve every question about whether a particular shortage, sale or location falls within it. This is general legal information, not legal advice. Zoe can make mistakes, and a qualified Australian lawyer should check this before you act on it, rely on it, or use any draft.