Fuel Legislation Amendment Act 2026

A “fuel seller” is the person to whom the Minister may direct a notice under new Fuels Rationing Act s 16A. The supplied amendment text does not give a definition of fuel seller, so its precise scope must be checked in the principal Act and any applicable interpretation provisions. Section 16A applies where the Minister “reasonably requires” information for one of three decisions: whether to approve a fuel restriction scheme under s 8, declare a fuel restriction under s 11, or extend a restriction under s 14. The information sought must relate to a fuel’s production, supply, use or consumption.

Section 19 uses a different trigger and recipient. It applies where an inspector “reasonably requires” information from a person who is subject to a fuel restriction. The listed information concerns fuels held and sold by that person, with regulations able to prescribe further categories. Both provisions require written notices and give at least 24 hours to respond, but their subjects and information categories are not identical.

New s 43A defines protected information as information about a person disclosed to, or obtained by, another person because of the exercise of a function under the Fuels Rationing Act. “Use” includes making a record; “disclose” includes communicating or publishing; and “produce” includes allowing access. Section 43B permits defined information-sharing entities, the Minister or an inspector, to give protected information to a Commonwealth or State entity where the statutory satisfaction tests are met.

The Act also changes “inspector” to mean a police officer or an investigator under the Fair Trading (Australian Consumer Law) Act 1992. It expands “occupier” to include a person believed on reasonable grounds to be an occupier and a person apparently in charge. The amendment text does not reproduce every affected definition or enforcement provision, so these concepts should be read alongside the current consolidated legislation.

Fuel sellers may be directly affected by the Minister’s new information power in s 16A. A seller can receive a written notice seeking information connected with a specified fuel-restriction decision. The notice must set out what information is required, how it must be given, and a response period of at least 24 hours. Failure to comply is an offence, with a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units. The regulation also makes that offence eligible for an infringement notice.

People subject to a fuel restriction may be required by an inspector to provide information under s 19. The express categories cover kinds and quantities of fuel held, and quantities sold during a stated period. Regulations may prescribe other information. The offence applies to a person who fails to comply with a notice, and is strict liability with a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units. The source does not establish how often notices will be issued or what additional information may be prescribed.

Inspectors are affected by the new information powers and by the information-handling provisions. The amended definition includes police officers and investigators under the Fair Trading (Australian Consumer Law) Act 1992. The regulation authorises an inspector to serve an infringement notice or reminder notice for a s 16A offence. The Commissioner for Fair Trading is the administering authority for those notices.

People exercising functions under the Fuels Rationing Act may handle protected information and are subject to the new offence provisions in s 43A. The Minister and inspectors may also share protected information with specified government entities under s 43B, subject to its tests. Fuel-price display requirements affect persons subject to s 5A of the Fair Trading (Fuel Prices) Act 1993, but the amendment extract does not reproduce the underlying display requirements or identify the persons to whom each requirement applies. Corporate recipients of s 16A infringement notices face a different fixed notice penalty from individuals, and a company notice must include the company’s ACN.

The clearest new duties arise when a valid written information notice is given. Under Fuels Rationing Act s 16A, the Minister’s notice may be issued to a fuel seller where the Minister reasonably requires information for the decisions listed in s 16A(1). It must identify the information sought, the method for giving it, and the response period. That period cannot be less than 24 hours. The offence is framed as failure to comply with a notice given under s 16A(2); the maximum penalty is 50 penalty units, and the offence is strict liability.

Under s 19, an inspector’s notice can require information from a person subject to a fuel restriction. The notice must specify the information, the manner of response, and a period of at least 24 hours. The information categories expressly listed are fuels held, quantities held, and quantities sold during a stated period, as well as information prescribed by regulation. Failure to comply is an offence carrying a maximum of 50 penalty units and is strict liability.

Section 43A creates offences relating to the use and disclosure of protected information by a person who exercises, or has exercised, a function under the Act. The specified mental element is recklessness about whether the information is protected information about someone else. For disclosure, the provision also addresses recklessness about whether the conduct would disclose it to someone else. The maximum penalty for each offence is 50 penalty units.

Those offences do not apply where information is used or disclosed under an ACT-applying law, in relation to exercising a function under such a law, in a court proceeding, or with the protected person’s consent. Section 43A’s note states that the defendant has an evidential burden concerning these matters, referring to Criminal Code s 58. Section 43B separately permits the Minister or an inspector to share protected information with a Commonwealth or State entity if satisfied that the information is reasonably necessary for the recipient’s fuel-shortage function and disclosure is appropriate. The text also says information need not be disclosed or produced to a court unless necessary for the Act or another ACT-applying law.

The Act sets several penalty consequences, but the supplied text does not state the monetary value of a penalty unit. The maximum penalty for an offence under Fair Trading (Fuel Prices) Act 1993 s 5A(1) is replaced with 50 penalty units. A new subsection, s 5A(1A), states that an offence against s 5A is a strict liability offence. The amendment does not reproduce the underlying price-display rule or its full enforcement arrangements.

Under Fuels Rationing Act s 16A, failing to comply with a Ministerial information notice carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units and is strict liability. Schedule 1 creates an infringement-notice route for this offence. The administering authority is the Commissioner for Fair Trading. The prescribed infringement notice penalty is $1,600 for an individual and $8,000 for a corporation. The cost of serving a reminder notice is $34. An inspector may serve the infringement notice and reminder notice.

The regulation also specifies notice-content requirements. A s 16A infringement notice must identify the authorised person by full name, surname and initials, or a unique number assigned by the administering authority. The same identification alternatives apply to a reminder notice. Where the notice is served on a company, it must include the company’s ACN. The regulation says this ACN requirement is additional to Magistrates Court Act 1930 s 121(1)(c).

Failure to comply with an inspector’s information notice under Fuels Rationing Act s 19 carries a maximum penalty of 50 penalty units and is strict liability. The supplied regulation does not prescribe an infringement notice for that s 19 offence. It expressly provides one for s 16A only. The regulation describes the general infringement-notice system in Magistrates Court Act pt 3.8 as an alternative to prosecution, but the detailed procedures and consequences of that Part are not reproduced here. No other penalty or enforcement outcome should be inferred from this amendment extract alone.

The Act expressly links the fuel-price legislation to the Fair Trading (Australian Consumer Law) Act 1992. Section 5 inserts the Fair Trading (Fuel Prices) Act 1993 into the definition of “fair trading legislation” in that Act. The amendment identifies the relevant legislation but does not reproduce the consequences of being classified as fair trading legislation. Those consequences would need to be checked in the current text of the Australian Consumer Law Act and related provisions.

The new s 16A infringement-notice regulation is made through the Magistrates Court Act 1930. Section 4 of the Amendment Act deems the schedule 1 regulation to be made under s 321 of that Act. The regulation applies pt 3.8 of the Magistrates Court Act to an offence against Fuels Rationing Act s 16A. It also sets the administering authority, notice penalties, reminder-notice cost, and specified content requirements. The Amendment Act provides that this regulation is not required to be presented to the Legislative Assembly under Legislation Act s 64(1), and that it may be amended or repealed as if made under Magistrates Court Act s 321.

The information-protection provisions refer to “another law applying in the ACT” and to proceedings before a “court”, which s 43A defines to include a tribunal, authority or person empowered to require documents or answers. Section 43A’s note refers to Criminal Code s 58 for the evidential burden attached to the exceptions in s 43A(3). Section 43B refers to an entity of the Commonwealth or a State; its note says “State” includes the Northern Territory, referring to the Legislation Act dictionary.

The regulation’s definition of company refers to a company registered under the Corporations Act. These are express statutory links. The amendment extract does not set out the broader operation of those other laws, so it supports identifying the links but not a complete account of their procedures or effects.

The Act’s endnotes state that the Legislative Assembly passed the Fuel Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 on 7 May 2026, and that the Act was notified under the Legislation Act on 15 May 2026. The endnotes also record a presentation speech on 5 May 2026. They do not reproduce the speech, explanatory material, committee reports, or debate. Accordingly, the supplied text establishes those procedural dates but does not establish the policy rationale advanced during debate or the development of the provisions before passage.

Section 2 divides commencement. The Act, except s 4, commences on the day after its notification day. Section 4 commences on the notification day. The Act’s note says the naming and commencement provisions automatically commence on the notification day under Legislation Act s 75(1). Section 4 provides that the schedule 1 regulation is taken to be notified on the day the Act is notified and commences on the commencement of schedule 1. The extract does not state a separate calendar date for schedule 1 commencement beyond those mechanisms, so a date-specific commencement analysis should be checked against the official current version.

The substantive amendments are distributed across Parts 2 to 4. Part 2 changes the definition of fair trading legislation. Part 3 changes the stated maximum penalty for the s 5A(1) price-display offence and adds strict liability. Part 4 inserts s 16A, replaces s 19, inserts ss 43A and 43B, changes definitions, and renumbers structural divisions and subdivisions.

The endnotes direct readers to the ACT legislation website for the latest republications of amended laws. This Act is an amending instrument, so its amendments need to be read in the current consolidated versions of the affected Acts and regulation. The provided history does not identify later amendments, commencement orders, or subsequent republications.

The supplied Act contains no reported judgment, tribunal decision, case name, litigation summary, or account of a court’s interpretation of the amendments. The endnotes record passage and notification dates, not litigation history. On this source alone, it is not possible to say whether any proceeding has considered the Act, the amended provisions, or the regulation. That is a limit of the material provided, not evidence that no relevant proceeding exists.

The Act does identify some matters that could arise in enforcement or interpretation, without resolving them. For example, ss 16A and 19 use the phrase “reasonably requires” to describe the basis for seeking information. They require written notices and a response period of at least 24 hours, but the extract does not prescribe a standard form, method of service, or method for calculating the period. The application of those requirements in a particular dispute would depend on the full legislation, the notice, and the facts.

Section 43A includes express exceptions to the information-use and disclosure offences, and its note identifies an evidential burden concerning those exceptions. Section 43B uses two satisfaction tests for information sharing: reasonable necessity for a recipient’s fuel-shortage function and appropriateness of disclosure. The amendment text does not report judicial treatment of those tests.

The new regulation makes s 16A an infringement-notice offence under Magistrates Court Act pt 3.8. The stated purpose is to provide an alternative to prosecution. The supplied text does not reproduce that Part’s full procedures, any review or election mechanisms, or case law about its operation. A litigation review would therefore require sources beyond this Act, including current legislation and relevant decisions. No cases are named here because none is named in the supplied source.

The first distinction is between the two information powers. Section 16A is a Ministerial power directed to a fuel seller and tied to decisions about a proposed or existing fuel restriction. Section 19 is an inspector’s power directed to a person already subject to a fuel restriction. The information categories differ: s 16A covers production, supply, use or consumption of fuel, while s 19 expressly lists fuels held, quantities held and quantities sold, with further categories possible by regulation. Treating the provisions as interchangeable could obscure who may issue a notice and what information it may seek.

Both notice provisions set a minimum response period of 24 hours, not a fixed period of 24 hours. Each requires the notice to say what information is required and how it must be provided. The text does not state a maximum response period. It also does not reproduce service rules or explain how a response period is calculated.

The infringement-notice scheme in the supplied regulation applies to s 16A offences. It does not state that the same fixed-amount pathway applies to s 19 offences or the price-display offence. The s 16A notice amounts are not the same as the maximum criminal penalty: the regulation specifies $1,600 for an individual and $8,000 for a corporation, while s 16A states a maximum of 50 penalty units. The source does not provide a monetary conversion for penalty units.

The information-protection exceptions and sharing power are separate mechanisms. Section 43A’s exceptions include disclosure under a law, for a statutory function, in court proceedings, or with consent. Section 43B permits certain intergovernmental sharing on stated conditions. Finally, the Act contains structural renumbering and cross-reference substitutions. Older references to divisions or subdivisions may therefore need checking against the current consolidated Act rather than being read literally from an earlier version.

A source-grounded compliance analysis can be organised around the provision, the person addressed, and the notice’s contents. For a possible s 16A notice, the relevant questions are whether the recipient is a fuel seller, whether the Minister’s stated information need is connected to one of the decisions listed in s 16A(1), and whether the written notice identifies the information, response method and a period of at least 24 hours. For a s 19 notice, the corresponding questions include whether the person is subject to a fuel restriction, whether the issuer is an inspector, and whether the requested information fits the categories in s 19(2) or a category prescribed by regulation.

An internal record of notices could capture the date received, issuing person, statutory provision cited, recipient, information requested, response method, stated deadline, and any material explaining the request. Those items map to express features of ss 16A and 19; they are not additional statutory requirements stated in this amendment. The source does not specify record-retention periods, standard response formats, or a process for seeking more time.

For organisations handling information obtained under the Fuels Rationing Act, an analysis can distinguish collection, use, recording, disclosure and sharing. Section 43A expressly includes making a record within “use” and communication or publication within “disclose”. The permitted-use and disclosure exceptions, and the s 43B sharing conditions, should be assessed against the actual information and proposed handling. The text does not supply detailed data-security standards.

For a s 16A infringement notice, relevant checks include the stated offence, the amount, the identity details of the authorised person, and, for a company, the ACN. The regulation says the notice system is an alternative to prosecution, but its detailed procedures are in Magistrates Court Act pt 3.8, which is not reproduced here. This is general legal information, not legal advice. Zoe can make mistakes. Before acting on, relying on, or using this information, have a qualified Australian lawyer check it.