Heavy Vehicle National Law (South Australia) (Expiation Fees) Regulations 2013

The instrument operationalises several core legal concepts from the Act and the Law. It translates the general power to prescribe offences and fix expiation fees into a concrete table of monetary amounts tied to named statutory sections and regulations.

• Prescribed offence: Under regulation 4, an offence listed in the tables in Schedule 1 is designated a "prescribed offence" for the purposes of section 591 of the Law (r 4(2)(a), r 4(3)(a), r 4(4)(a)). The regulations therefore identify which statutory contraventions are eligible to be dealt with by expiation under the heavy vehicle scheme.

• Expiation fee: The term "expiation fee" here denotes a fixed monetary sum associated with an alleged offence, as set out in the Schedule. The instrument fixes those sums "pursuant to section 28(3)(f) or (g) of the Act" (r 4(1)-(4)). For many offences the table shows a dollar amount; for one entry (r 4(2) Division 1, s 568(3)(b)) the fee is specified as "An amount equal to 10% of the amount of the maximum penalty for an offence..." rather than a fixed figure.

• Interaction with national penalty adjustment: The regulations explicitly link most penalty amounts to the automatic adjustment method in section 737 of the Law (r 5(1)-(3)). Section 737 (as described in r 5) requires that penalties be increased annually in accordance with a method prescribed in the national regulations. The regulations therefore operate as a schedule that is periodically updated by a statutory adjustment mechanism rather than as a permanently fixed tariff.

• Division of scope: The Schedule separates offences that are purely local (Part 1), those that are national but as applied in SA (Part 2 Division 1), those peculiar to SA (Part 2 Division 2), and offences from two named national regulations as applied in SA (Parts 3 and 4). This structure signals different treatment for SA‑peculiar offences (not automatically adjusted) versus the rest (automatically adjusted).

• Regulatory publication and reliance: The regulations repeatedly note that the Regulator will publish the up‑to‑date penalty amounts on its website and that some Schedule entries are "included for convenience only" (r 4 notes; r 5 notes). That creates a working dependence on the Regulator's public lists for practical compliance.

• Non‑definitional descriptions: The Schedule contains a "Description of offence" column which is expressly not the legal definition of the offence (r 3(2)). Users must therefore read the statutory section or regulation cited in the Schedule to determine the precise legal elements.

These concepts mean the regulations are primarily an administrative schedule rather than a source of novel substantive duties. The rules do not themselves create the offences or the expiation mechanism; they fix the monetary consequences for named offences created elsewhere (the Act, the Law and the national regulations), and set out which of those offences are treated as prescribed for expiation. The annual adjustment mechanism under s 737 means the face value of many entries is dynamic rather than static.

The regulations affect a series of actors who are repeatedly named in the underlying statutory provisions listed in Schedule 1. The parties carrying financial exposure under the schedule are the persons or entities who might be alleged to have committed the listed offences. The instrument itself does not create new definitional categories beyond referencing the statutory ones; its effect is to allocate monetary amounts against those categories.

Primary groups named in the Schedule and therefore materially affected:

• Drivers: Many entries in Schedule 1 are phrased as "Failure of driver", "Driving a heavy vehicle" or "Using or permitting the use" and therefore put drivers directly at risk for expiation fees (see, for example, s 25A(1) for PBS approvals $411, s 89(1) unsafe vehicle $825, s 192(1) freight container without complying declaration $825, and numerous fatigue‑related driver offences such as s 250(1) and s 254(1) with tiered fees up to $1,373).

• Operators and responsible entities: The Schedule lists "operator" or "responsible entity" duties including ensuring freight container declarations, ensuring drivers comply with work and rest hours, and ensuring vehicles comply with mass/dimension/loading requirements (e.g. ss 190(1), 191(1), 96(1), 111(1)). Those entries expose operators to equivalent fees in many instances ($825 for several operator failures).

• Relevant parties and employers (persons to ensure driver compliance): Several Schedule items impose obligations on a "relevant party" or "person who is not the operator" to ensure a driver complies with keeping permits or returning documents (for example ss 25A(2), 83(3), 133(3), many entries at $411 or $547). These clauses affect employers, contracting parties and consignors who have an obligation to ensure driver behaviour.

• Record keepers and holders of approvals: A substantial part of the Schedule targets record keepers and holders of electronic recording approvals, with fees ranging up to $825 for failure to keep records for three years (s 341), for failing to comply with conditions of system approvals (ss 354-355) or to keep records accessible and readable (ss 341(3)-(5)). These entries affect businesses that function as record keepers, providers of electronic work diaries or system vendors that hold approvals.

• Approved vehicle examiners and vehicle owners: Offences relating to modification without approval, failure to supply certificates or labels, tampering with plates/labels and using vehicles that contravene vehicle standards affect vehicle owners, examiners and maintainers (ss 85, 86, 87A, 60, fees $411-$825).

• Pilot and escort vehicle drivers, class‑specific operators: Specific entries refer to pilot drivers, class 1/3 heavy vehicle drivers, class 2 heavy vehicle authorisations and restricted access vehicles (ss 130, 131, 137, 150, 153A), each with $411-$825 fees, so firms operating specialist fleets and contractor drivers are affected.

• Persons disposing of vehicles subject to defect notices: Sale or disposal while a vehicle defect notice is in force is listed in Part 1 (s 21(1), $300). That places a compliance obligation on owners/sellers.

• The Regulator and administrative/collection bodies: The instrument references the "Regulator" as the body that publishes the adjusted penalty amounts and to which permits or documents must be returned in some statutory scenarios (r 5 notes; Schedule entries refer to notices to return permits to the Regulator). The Regulator therefore is the central administrative actor implementing the dynamic adjustment and publicising current fees.

Who pays: the Schedule fixes amounts payable as "expiation fees" for alleged offences; the directly liable person is the person named in the underlying statutory section (driver, operator, record keeper, approved vehicle examiner, owner, etc.). The regulations do not set out collection mechanics, alternatives to payment, or whether payment extinguishes prosecution; those procedural matters sit in the Act and the Law, not in this instrument. Users therefore must consult the Act/Law for the procedure by which an expiation fee is offered, accepted or otherwise resolved.

The regulations themselves do not create duties or rights beyond fixing monetary consequences. However, by identifying sections and regulations in Schedule 1, the instrument highlights the specific statutory duties that, if breached, will attract the listed expiation amounts. For practical compliance analysis, it is useful to map recurring kinds of statutory obligations that the Schedule targets.

Recurring statutory duties (identifiable from the Schedule entries and their section references)

• Vehicle standards and approvals: Duties to hold and carry approvals, not to use vehicles that contravene vehicle standards or conditions of exemptions, and to ensure approved modifications and plates/labels are fitted, maintained and not tampered with (e.g. ss 25A(1)-(2), 60(1), 81, 85(1)-(2), 86(2), 87A(1)). Fees range principally at $411 or $547, with $825 for use of unsafe vehicle (s 89(1)).

• Mass/dimension/loading compliance: Obligations to ensure vehicle, components and load comply with mass (s 96(1)), dimension (s 102(1)) and loading requirements (s 111(1)), and to comply with conditions of mass/dimension exemptions, pilot and escort vehicle conditions and restricted access use (ss 129-137, 153A). Many of these are allocated $411, $547, $687 or $825 depending on the seriousness bracket indicated (minor/substantial risk).

• Fatigue management and work hours: A large suite of duties focuses on driver hours, work diaries and related record‑keeping, including standard hours, BFM/AFM, work and rest exemptions, keeping and making available work diaries, odometer recording, notifying the Regulator about lost/filled diaries, and record keeper obligations (ss 250-305, 306-324A, 341, 354-355, 373-396, etc.). The Schedule assigns tiered fees for minor/substantial/severe breaches (e.g. $547, $825, $1,373 for severe breaches in many fatigue offences), plus lower amounts ($206) for purely recording or procedural failures.

• Document carriage and transfer: Duties to keep copies of exemptions/permits in driver's possession, to return permits/documents when work ceases or when directed, to make records available to authorised officers, and to return accreditation labels, identity cards and permits to the Regulator when required (e.g. ss 82-83, 132-133, 151-153, 287-288, 476, 488, many fees at $411 or $547).

• Directions and compliance with authorisations: Duties to follow directions given under certain sections (e.g. s 19(1) direction at $600 in Part 1; various directions under Division 9-10 and inspection notices at $825), and to ensure drivers comply with accreditation conditions ($825 for many accreditation breaches).

Rights and notable absences in the instrument

• No novel procedural rights: The regulations do not articulate procedural rights such as the effect of paying an expiation fee, timelines for doing so, review or appeal rights, or the process for issuing notices. Those matters are left to the Act and the Law.

• No internal definitional text: The instrument expressly disclaims that the Schedule's "Description of offence" column defines the offence (r 3(2)). That means practitioners must consult the precise statutory text of the cited section or regulation to determine the elements of the offence and any defences or exceptions.

• Adjustment and knowledge rights: The regulations give the Regulator the role of publishing annual adjusted amounts (r 5 notes). Practitioners and affected parties have a practical informational right of access: the Regulator's published list is the source for the current amounts, so compliance depends on monitoring that publication.

Who decides: The instrument fixes amounts but leaves the annual adjustment to the national Law mechanism and to the Regulator. Parliament (by the Act) authorized the regulations to fix fees (s 28(3) delegations referenced), but the ongoing adjustment mechanism is administrative via s 737 and the Regulator's publications. The instrument therefore distributes decision rights between the legislature (to list offences and provide enabling power), the executive/regulatory apparatus (to publish adjusted amounts), and the regulations themselves (to fix SA‑peculiar fees that do not automatically adjust).

In short, the regulations annotate the legal landscape by matching statutory duties from the Law and subordinate national regulations to explicit monetary values for expiation. To determine substantive legal obligations, precise defences, or procedural remedies, practitioners must read the cited statutory sections.

This instrument allocates monetary expiation amounts for numerous heavy vehicle regulatory contraventions. It operates primarily as a tariff schedule and a pointer to the national penalty adjustment mechanism. The regulations do not set out novel enforcement procedures; those are established in the Act, the Law and national regulations. Nevertheless, the text allows analysis of penalty magnitudes, escalation mechanisms and administrative responsibilities.

Penalty magnitudes and structure

• Range of amounts: The Schedule lists fees from as low as $206 to as high as $1,373. Typical common amounts include $411, $547, $825 and $1,373. Lower amounts ($206) are used for procedural recording or timing failures (for example ss 296(1), 298(1), 301, 302). High amounts ($1,373) appear against the most serious fatigue breaches (severe risk breaches under ss 250, 251, 254, 256) and certain direction‑noncompliance provisions (ss 533(7), 534(5), and s 577(4) peculiar to SA at $1,373).

• Tiered offences with risk categories: Several entries specify different amounts depending on "minor risk", "substantial risk", or "severe risk" characterisations in the underlying sections. For example, s 96(1) (mass compliance) carries $547 for a minor risk breach and $825 for a substantial risk breach; fatigue hours contraventions under ss 250/251/254/256 have three tiers up to $1,373. The regulator of those offense categories must determine the risk band that applies to a particular contravention under the underlying section.

• Percentage‑linked fee: One entry (s 568(3)(b)) departs from a fixed dollar figure and prescribes a fee "An amount equal to 10% of the amount of the maximum penalty for an offence of failing to keep the document, device or other thing in the driver's possession". That creates a direct linkage to the statutory maximum, and therefore to any changes in maximum penalties under the Law or national regulation.

Adjustment and publication

• Annual automatic increase: Regulation 5 invokes section 737 of the Law to require that "at the start of 1 July of each year" penalties be increased in accordance with a method prescribed by national regulations. The practical upshot is that, unless otherwise stated, the face value for most of the Schedule is dynamic and may increase annually (r 5(1)-(3)).

• Regulator's publication: The regulations state that the Regulator will publish updated penalty amounts on its website "as soon as practicable but before 1 July of each year" (r 5 note and r 4 notes referencing the Regulator's list at https://www.nhvr.gov.au/law-policies/penalties). For those offences whose Schedule entries are "included for convenience only", the Regulator's published figures are the operative source for current amounts.

Exceptions and delimiting features

• SA‑peculiar offences excluded from adjustment: Regulation 5(4) explicitly excludes expiation fees fixed for prescribed offences that are "peculiar to South Australia" (Part 2 Division 2 of Schedule 1) from the annual adjustment mechanism. Those amounts therefore remain the figure printed in Schedule 1 until the regulations themselves are varied (r 5(4)).

• "Included for convenience only": Several Schedule entries are labelled as penalties fixed "in accordance with section 737 of the Law" and "included for convenience purposes only" (r 4(2)(c), r 4(3)(b), r 4(4)(b)). Practically, that signals that the legislated source of the operative figure is the national penalty adjustment framework and the Regulator's list, not the static number in the printed Schedule.

Enforcement actors and procedural gap

• The Regulator is the administrative actor implied as responsible for publication and for receiving returned permits in certain statutory scenarios referenced in the Schedule. The instrument repeatedly points to the Regulator for the up‑to‑date penalty amounts.

• The regulations do not set out enforcement processes, collection mechanisms, test for liability, or the effect of payment. Those procedural matters belong to the Act and the Law; the present instrument only fixes fees and ties them to the underlying statutory offences. Practitioners must consult the Act/Law to see how expiation notices are served, how payments interact with criminal proceedings and how disputes are resolved.

Operational consequences

• Businesses and drivers face immediate financial exposure in the amounts listed where an alleged offence falls within the cited statutory provision. The presence of tiered fees means that a factual assessment of the seriousness/risk character of a breach (minor/substantial/severe) will materially affect the expiation fee amount.

• The annual adjustment mechanism means that budgeting for compliance and exposure requires monitoring the Regulator's published list ahead of each 1 July to know the current amounts.

In sum, the instrument defines the monetary stakes for a broad spectrum of heavy vehicle compliance failures, anchors most of those stakes to an annual national adjustment process, and leaves process and legal defences to the parent Law and Act.

This instrument is a subordinate, implementing regulation that connects the Heavy Vehicle National Law (as applied in South Australia), and specified national regulations, to particular monetary outcomes. It is intended to operate in conjunction with the Act, the Law and national regulations; it does not displace or supersede them. Key interactions follow directly from the text.

Foundational statutory delegations

• Enabling sections in the Act are invoked as the authority for fixing expiation fees. Regulation 4 states that the fees are fixed "Pursuant to section 28(3)(f) of the Act" for local application provisions and "Pursuant to section 28(3)(g) of the Act" for offences against the Law and national regulations (r 4(1)-(4)). That establishes the constitutional/legal delegation flow: the Act delegates to regulation‑making power; these regulations exercise that power to specify fees.

• Prescribed offences are declared to be such "for the purposes of section 591 of the Law" (r 4(2)(a), r 4(3)(a), r 4(4)(a)). Section 591 of the Law (not reproduced here) is the cross‑jurisdictional mechanism within the Law that deals with prescribed offences and expiation.

Interaction with national penalty adjustment provisions

• Section 737 of the Law (referred to in regulation 5) prescribes an annual adjustment method for penalties. Regulation 5 implements that interaction by stating the rule that "at the start of 1 July of each year" the amount will be increased by the method prescribed in the national regulations and that the Regulator will publish updated amounts. The regulations therefore do not attempt to re‑authorise the annual increase; they adopt the national framework and defer the operational adjustment to the Regulator.

Connection to the national regulations cited in Schedule 1

• The Schedule lists offences taken directly from the Heavy Vehicle (Mass, Dimension and Loading) National Regulation (SA) and the Heavy Vehicle (Fatigue Management) National Regulation (SA) (Parts 3 and 4 of Schedule 1). The regulation treats those national regulation offences as prescribed offences for the purposes of the Law (r 4(3)-(4)) and fixes fees (or defers to adjusted amounts). That links the national regulatory content (mass/dimension, fatigue management regimes) to the local expiation framework.

Practical cross‑reliance and publication

• The regulations rely on the Regulator's website and publication of penalty lists (r 4 notes; r 5 note). That creates a dependence on administrative practice and publication for current penalty figures.

• The instrument also includes notes that references in the legislation to other instruments, titles or bodies may be obsolete and directs readers to the Index of South Australian Statutes or the legislation.sa.gov.au site for further information. That indicates the intended practice of cross‑checking the primary provisions referenced in the Schedule.

Limits and deference

• Where Schedule entries are labelled as "included for convenience only" (r 4(2)(c), r 4(3)(b), r 4(4)(b)), the regulations acknowledge that the operative legal source for the penalty amount is the national adjustment framework under s 737. In other words, the printed number is a helpful pointer but not the sole authoritative source for the current charge.

• The SA‑peculiar offences are preserved from the automatic national adjustment mechanism by r 5(4), which means those entries are under the control of South Australian regulation change rather than the national automatic annual increase. That creates a divergence between national‑set penalties (and their automatic annual increase) and fees that remain static until the State updates the regulations.

Compliance checkpoints

• To determine liability, penalty amount and the current payable sum, a practitioner must look at: (a) the statutory offence text cited in the Schedule (to determine elements and defences); (b) whether the offence is SA‑peculiar or subject to annual adjustment; and (c) the Regulator's published list for the current adjusted amount for those offences that are adjusted annually (r 5 note).

In summary, the regulations form one link in a chain of instruments under the Act and the national Law. They specify monetary consequences and point to the national annual adjustment mechanism and the Regulator's publication. They do not stand alone; to understand the full legal position a reader must consult the Act, the Law and the relevant national regulations cited in the Schedule.

The instrument’s legislative history, reproduced in the regulations, documents frequent variation, substitution and updating of Schedule 1 and certain regulatory provisions. The legislative history provides a clear audit trail of how the Schedule has been revised and when changes came into force.

Chronology of principal entries

• Principal regulations made 2013: The principal instrument is dated 2013 (No 296) and commenced in February 2014 (Gazette 19.12.2013 p5016, commencement r 2 on 10.2.2014). That is the base instrument establishing the schedule.

• Annual/subsequent substitutions and variations: The legislative history records regular amendments with commencement dates almost annually, especially in the lead‑up to 1 July each year when adjusted amounts took effect. Notable substitution events for Schedule 1 include 2014 (r 6 substitution effective 1.7.2014), 2015 substitution (1.7.2015), and a series of further substitutions and variations in 2016, 2017, 2018 and later years.

• Recent substitutions: The history shows Schedule 1 substituted by 88/2020 r 4 (1.7.2020), substituted by 74/2021 r 4 (1.7.2021), substituted by 33/2022 r 3 (1.7.2022), substituted by 37/2023 r 3 (1.7.2023), substituted by 35/2024 r 3 (1.7.2024), and substituted by 28/2025 r 3 (1.7.2025). Those entries show that Schedule 1 has been systematically updated over time.

Provisions varied and omitted

• Regulation 2 was omitted under the Legislation Revision and Publication Act 2002 (commencement 1.7.2014). Regulation 4 and its subprovisions were varied by multiple instruments (181/2014, 163/2016), with r 4(4) inserted by 163/2016 effective 1.7.2016. Regulation 5 saw multiple variations: r 5(1) varied by 181/2014; r 5(2) deleted by 181/2014; r 5(3) varied by 181/2014; and r 5(5) deleted by 181/2014.

• Schedule 1 has been the focus of multiple substitutions, reflecting updates to which offences are listed and which fees apply. The legislative history lists many amendment instruments with Gazette references and commencement dates, demonstrating a continuous process of revision.

Historical versions

• The legislative history provides a list of historical consolidated versions by date (1.7.2014, 1.7.2015, 6.2.2016, 21.4.2016, 1.7.2016, 1.7.2017, 1.7.2018, 1.10.2018, 1.7.2019, 28.2.2020, 1.7.2020, 1.7.2021, 1.7.2022, 1.7.2023, 1.7.2024). The list demonstrates that the instrument has undergone regular updating , both to reflect changes in the national framework and to adjust which offences are subject to expiation or to update the fee amounts.

Consequences of the amendment pattern

• The frequent substitutions of Schedule 1 indicate that the list of prescribed offences and their corresponding fees is actively managed via regulation. Where entries are "peculiar to South Australia" (Part 2 Division 2), their staying power or change relies on separate South Australian regulatory action rather than the national automatic adjustment mechanism.

• Because the instrument points users to the Regulator's published list for the current adjusted amounts, the frequent amendments combined with the annual adjustment mechanism suggest operational practice expects administrative updates rather than multiple parliamentary bills for every numeric change.

How to follow changes

• Practitioners should consult the legislative history notes in the instrument for an audit trail and use the Regulator's website publications to obtain the up‑to‑date penalty amounts in force from 1 July each year. The instrument’s notes themselves advise that references to other legislation or bodies may be obsolete, and direct users to the Index of South Australian Statutes and the legislation database.

In sum, the amendment history shows an iterative, active regulatory maintenance of the expiation fee schedule since 2014, with Schedule 1 subject to regular substitution and update, and with the annual adjustment mechanism under s 737 used to streamline numeric updates.

The regulations, as provided, do not include any judicial decisions or record a litigation history. The instrument contains a "Legislative history" section that documents amendments and commencement dates; it does not cite court cases, determinations, or litigation outcomes.

Implications for practitioners

• Absence of cases in the text: Because the regulation's text and legislative history contain no references to judicial decisions, there is no case law expressly recorded in this instrument to clarify how courts have interpreted the schedule entries, the operation of expiation fees in this context, or disputes about the application of adjusted amounts. Any judicial interpretation or administrative review decisions will have to be sourced from external legal databases or court records rather than from the regulation.

• Practical reliance on parent statute and Law: The regulation repeatedly references the Act and the Law (for example, r 3(1) definitions and r 4 cross‑references to s 28 and s 591). Accordingly, any litigation about the legal effect of paying an expiation fee, procedural fairness of notices, the interplay between expiation and prosecution, or categorisation of risk tiers would be litigated under the Act and the Law, not in this subordinate instrument. Practitioners should therefore align any research on litigation or precedent with cases under the Act and the Law, and decisions involving the Regulator.

• Administrative review and publication: Because the instrument delegates publication responsibility for adjusted amounts to the Regulator (r 5 note), disputes may also arise in administrative tribunals about whether the Regulator correctly published the amount, whether a particular adjustment method was applied, or about retrospective application. The regulation itself does not lay down dispute resolution or appeal rights; those will be found in the Act and the Law.

Recommendation for litigation research

• To build a litigation history or find case law that engages with the operation of these expiation fees, a practitioner should search for cases and tribunal decisions involving: the Heavy Vehicle National Law (South Australia) Act 2013, s 591 prescribed offences, s 737 penalty adjustments, and any litigation or administrative reviews involving the Regulator, enforcement notices, or expiation payments. The regulation itself should be used to identify the relevant statutory sections and offences that were the subject of any such disputes.

In short, there is no litigation history narrated in the regulation. Practitioners must look beyond the instrument to statutory sources and external case law to determine how courts and tribunals have construed or applied the expiation fee framework.

The regulations include a number of practical features and drafting choices that create traps for the unwary. These are points where a literal reading of Schedule 1 may mislead unless cross‑checked with the cited statutory provisions, the national adjustment process, and the Regulator's publications.

1. Descriptive text is not definitional (r 3(2))

• The "Description of offence" column in Schedule 1 is expressly for convenience only and "is not to be taken to define the offence" (r 3(2)). Practitioners must read the specific statutory section or regulation cited to identify the legal elements, mens rea (if any), exceptions and defences. Relying on the Schedule's short description can lead to misapplication of expiation amounts.

2. Many Schedule numbers are "included for convenience only" (r 4(2)(c), r 4(3)(b), r 4(4)(b))

• Several Schedule entries are explicitly described as "the penalties fixed in accordance with section 737 of the Law for the alleged prescribed offences... and are included for convenience purposes only" (r 4(2)(c), r 4(3)(b), r 4(4)(b)). That means the figure printed in Schedule 1 may not be the operative figure at a later date; the operative figure will be the adjusted amount published by the Regulator under the national framework. Practitioners should therefore check the Regulator’s website for the current payable amount.

3. Two different adjustment regimes (r 5(3)-(4))

• Regulation 5 ties most prescribed offences to automatic annual adjustment via s 737 of the Law (r 5(3)), but then excludes SA‑peculiar prescribed offences (Part 2 Division 2) from that automatic adjustment (r 5(4)). If a practitioner misses that distinction they may assume an amount has increased automatically when, in fact, SA‑peculiar fees remain static until the regulations themselves are varied.

4. One fee is percentage‑linked (s 568(3)(b) entry)

• The entry for s 568(3)(b) specifies the expiation fee as "An amount equal to 10% of the amount of the maximum penalty for an offence..." rather than a fixed dollar figure. That creates dependency on the maximum penalty amount of the underlying offence, which could change if external statutory maximum penalties are amended.

5. Tiered fees hinge on factual risk classification (minor/substantial/severe)

• Several entries require a classification of breach seriousness (e.g. s 96(1), ss 250/251/254/256 for fatigue) into "minor", "substantial" or "severe" risk. That classification is factual and will determine whether the expiation fee is $547, $825 or $1,373, for example. Practitioners should note that the Schedule does not define the thresholds for those risk classifications; the underlying sections and enforcement guidance will contain the criteria.

6. Reliance on Regulator publications

• The regulations rely on the Regulator for current amounts and state the Regulator will publish these figures "as soon as practicable but before 1 July of each year" (r 5 note). A business that fails to check the Regulator's up‑to‑date list before 1 July risks relying on an outdated figure. The instrument provides no printed grace period or mandatory notification to affected parties about changed amounts.

7. The instrument does not set out expiation procedure

• The regulations fix the fees but do not describe the process for issuing expiation notices, payment mechanics, or how payment interacts with criminal proceedings. These process rules are in the Act and the Law; therefore, reliance solely on the regulations for compliance will omit critical procedural steps such as timeframes to pay, consequences of non‑payment, or rights to contest an alleged offence.

8. SA‑peculiar fees may diverge from national practice

• Since SA‑peculiar fees are not automatically adjusted, they may drift away from nationally adjusted amounts over time. Organisations working across jurisdictions should not assume fee uniformity.

9. Frequent substitutions mean printed versions can be obsolete

• The legislative history shows regular modification of Schedule 1. Practitioners should confirm they are working with the latest consolidated version and cross‑check the Regulator’s published list.

10. Multiple liable parties for the same conduct

• Many provisions impose duties on both drivers and relevant parties/operators to ensure compliance (e.g. ss 25A(1) and 25A(2), or ss 82(2) and 82(3)). The Schedule lists identical or near‑identical fees for both parties, meaning the same factual event could expose more than one person to an expiation fee. Clients should be advised on potential joint exposures.

These "gotchas" are practical risks arising directly from the way this instrument allocates amounts and defers adjustments. Mitigations include consulting the exact statutory text for definitions, monitoring the Regulator's published fee list annually, determining which offences are SA‑peculiar, and confirming the procedural rules in the Act and the Law.

The regulations fix monetary exposure for a range of offences. Compliance therefore requires both substantive steps to avoid committing those offences and operational steps to manage exposure where alleged contraventions arise. Because several entries emphasise documentation, record keeping and carriage of permits, practical compliance is document‑centric and process‑oriented. The following compliance checklist maps the major technical steps to the statutory references in the Schedule.

1. Identify which obligations apply to your role

• Determine whether you operate as a driver, operator, record keeper, approved vehicle examiner, owner, pilot/escort driver, or holder of an accreditation. The Schedule assigns primary liability to the person named in the underlying section (see multiple Schedule entries: drivers ss 25A, 293; operators ss 190-192; record keepers ss 341, 321; examiners ss 85-86).

2. Maintain and carry required documents and approvals

• Keep current copies of PBS vehicle approval, vehicle standards exemption permits, mass/dimension exemptions, class 2 authorisations, work and rest hours exemptions, accreditation certificates and identity cards as required by the listed sections (e.g. ss 25A, 83, 133, 152, 288, 468, 476, 488). Failure to carry or return these documents is frequently penalised with $411-$547 fees.

3. Ensure vehicles meet standards and are not used unlawfully

• Implement inspection and maintenance regimes to ensure vehicles comply with heavy vehicle standards, emission control systems, approved modifications and are not unsafe (see ss 60, 85, 89, 90). Many of these offences attract $411-$825 expiation fees.

4. Mass, dimension and loading compliance

• Adopt load planning, weighbridge checks and documentation practices to ensure compliance with mass, dimension and loading requirements (ss 96, 102, 111), including use of pilot and escort vehicles where required (ss 130-133). Tiered fees reflect the seriousness of breaches; a documented risk assessment may inform a defence or mitigate enforcement action.

5. Fatigue and work diary management

• Implement robust fatigue management systems covering standard hours, BFM/AFM hours, work diary procedures, odometer recording and electronic work diary maintenance (see ss 250-305, 306-324A, 341). Key tasks: ensure drivers keep required work diaries, record entries at the prescribed times, that electronic systems are serviced and that record keepers maintain records for statutory periods (ss 341(1)-(3)). Procedural failures often attract lower fee amounts ($206), whereas substantive breaches carry higher penalties ($547-$1,373).

6. Record keeping and availability

• Maintain organisational record‑keeping policies so records are kept for three years (s 341(1)), remain readable and readily available at record locations, and are produced to authorised officers when required (ss 341(3)-(5), 341(7)). Failures here attract fees up to $825.

7. Return permits and comply with Regulator directions

• When directed under the Law to return permits, work diary exemptions or to surrender accreditation certificates, comply within the specified period and ensure the Regulator receives the documents (see Schedule entries for return notices ss 79(2), 181(3), 34(2), 284(2), 373, 476). Non‑return carries expiation fees ($547-$825).

8. Monitor the Regulator’s published penalty list annually

• Because most fees are adjusted at the start of each 1 July under s 737, check the Regulator's website for the current adjusted amounts each year (see r 5 notes and r 4 notes referencing https://www.nhvr.gov.au/law-policies/penalties). Include this check in annual compliance reviews and budgets.

9. Be aware of SA‑peculiar fees and their non‑adjustment

• Identify items in Part 2 Division 2 of Schedule 1 (for example s 322(4) and s 577(4)) which are excluded from automatic adjustment (r 5(4)). Those amounts remain as printed in the Schedule until the regulations themselves are varied.

10. Contractual allocation and insurance

• Consider contractual clauses assigning obligations for record keeping, carriage of permits, and indemnities for expiation fees, where permitted by law. Confirm with insurers whether expiation fees are covered by liability or risk policies; many expiation fines may not be insurable.

11. Prepare for multi‑party exposure

• Because the same event may expose drivers and relevant parties/operators to identical fees (for example failure to ensure documents are in the driver's possession), conduct role‑based compliance training and documentation checks to ensure all parties with a duty understand and perform their responsibilities.

12. Keep contemporaneous evidence

• For risk classification (minor/substantial/severe) and to contest alleged contraventions if necessary, maintain contemporaneous records of load weights, odometer readings, route authorisations, fatigue rosters and logs, maintenance activity and communications with drivers and contractors.

13. Legal review and procedural preparedness

• For any expiation notice received, consult the Act and the Law for procedural rights, timelines to pay, dispute mechanisms and consequences of payment, because the regulations do not specify those matters. Preserve evidence to challenge risk classifications or to assert legal defences under the cited statutory section.

14. Update internal policies when Schedule 1 is substituted

• The legislative history shows Schedule 1 is regularly substituted. Make compliance updates part of the annual governance cycle, aligned to the Regulator’s published list pre‑1 July and to any South Australian regulation changes that vary the Schedule.

Checklist for an operational compliance manual (practical)

• Map each statutory citation in Schedule 1 to an internal control or SOP.
• Maintain a matrix of who in the organisation is the "driver", "operator", "record keeper" and "relevant party" for each vehicle and contract.
• Require drivers to present permits and work diaries at the start of rotations; log checks.
• Perform pre‑trip vehicle standards and emissions checks with sign‑offs by approved vehicle examiners where required.
• Keep a central store of copies of permits and approvals and a procedure for returning documents to the Regulator when required.
• Designate a compliance owner responsible for checking the Regulator’s published penalty list before each 1 July and for updating the organisation's penalty exposure register.

By following these steps, organisations and individuals can align operational practice with the set of statutory duties targeted by the expiation fee schedule. The regulations primarily demand diligence in document handling, record keeping and adherence to technical vehicle and fatigue requirements; compliance is therefore a function of routine process, evidence retention and monitoring of the Regulator's publications.