Zero and Low Emission Vehicle Distance-based Charge Regulations 2021

The Regulations deploy a small set of concepts and cross-references that determine scope and effect.

• Waiver power, Secretary: Regulation 5 operates “for the purposes of section 27(a) of the Act” and states “the Secretary may waive the amount of the first ZLEV charge payable by a registered operator of a ZLEV who is a dealer”. The verb “may” indicates discretionary executive power to waive, and the waiver is limited to the “first ZLEV charge” for that ZLEV (regulation 5).

• Dealer: “Dealer” is defined in regulation 4 by cross-reference to “licensed motor car trader” within the meaning of the Motor Car Traders Act 1986. The Regulations therefore confine the waiver to a statutory category established in separate legislation; the Regulations do not define “dealer” independently.

• First ZLEV charge and kilometre limit: The waiver is for the “amount of the first ZLEV charge payable by a registered operator of a ZLEV who is a dealer” and is expressly limited to “up to 1500 kilometres travelled by the ZLEV on specified roads to which the charge applies” (regulation 5). The text therefore ties the waiver to a distance threshold (1,500 km) and to the chargeable road network (the “specified roads to which the charge applies”).

• Conditionality: The waiver is conditional on the dealer having “lodged the declarations required by sections 10 and 11 of the Act in relation to the ZLEV” (regulation 5). The Regulations rely on the Act for the required declarations; they do not reproduce or elaborate their content or form.

• Authorising provision and commencement: The Regulations are made under s 78 of the Act (regulation 2) and commence on 1 July 2021 (regulation 3). The endnotes record the date of making (29 June 2021) and the ten-year sunset date pursuant to the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (Endnotes, General information).

The Regulations are narrowly framed and do not expand the statutory scheme beyond the single waiver mechanism. They leave operational detail to the parent Act and to administrative practice, for example by not specifying application procedures, evidentiary requirements for the 1,500 kilometre measurement, or the precise meaning of “specified roads” within these Regulations themselves. The cross-references to the Act and to the Motor Car Traders Act 1986 are the main mechanisms by which the Regulations integrate into a broader legal framework.

The Regulations affect a narrowly defined set of actors. The primary immediate beneficiaries are dealers as defined by the Motor Car Traders Act 1986 who are registered operators of a ZLEV. In concrete terms, the Regulations only apply where three factual conditions are met: (1) the vehicle is a ZLEV for the purposes of the Act, (2) the registered operator of that ZLEV is a dealer (that is, a licensed motor car trader under the Motor Car Traders Act 1986), and (3) the dealer has lodged the declarations required under sections 10 and 11 of the Act in relation to the ZLEV (regulation 5). The Regulations therefore do not apply to private individuals, fleet operators other than dealers, or dealers that have not lodged the required declarations.

Who pays otherwise: while these Regulations do not themselves impose the ZLEV charge, they address the circumstances in which the Secretary may waive an amount of that charge. The Regulations identify that, absent waiver, the registered operator of a ZLEV would be liable for the ZLEV charge; regulation 5 references “the amount of the first ZLEV charge payable by a registered operator of a ZLEV who is a dealer”, which implies dealers would otherwise be liable for that first charge. The Regulations therefore shift, for a narrow initial quantum of travel (up to 1,500 km), the practical incidence of payment by allowing a waiver.

Who decides: the Regulations place decision-making power in the Secretary, who “may waive” the amount of the first charge (regulation 5). The exercise of that discretion is conditional only on the declarations required by ss 10 and 11 having been lodged; the Regulations do not prescribe further steps for the Secretary, nor do they require an application process to be specified in the Regulations themselves.

Other affected parties: because the Regulations limit the waiver to “specified roads to which the charge applies”, operators and administrators responsible for the chargeable road network and for charge collection may be affected procedurally (for example, by having to record or treat a first 1,500 km of travel for eligible dealers differently). The Regulations do not specify the administrative mechanics of how that treatment is recorded or enforced; such mechanics will be determined by the Act or by administrative practice under the Act.

Finally, the Regulations may affect secondary stakeholders such as accountants, compliance staff and dealers’ record-keeping systems, because the waiver is contingent on lodged declarations and distance travelled and will therefore require documentation and processes to demonstrate eligibility. The Regulations do not set record-keeping standards, but their conditions create an evidentiary need for affected dealers.

The Regulations primarily create a right to a discretionary waiver and a corresponding conditional duty to meet eligibility prerequisites; they do not impose new offences or fines.

Right to discretionary waiver: Under regulation 5, a registered operator of a ZLEV who is a dealer has a conditional entitlement that the Secretary may waive the amount of the first ZLEV charge for up to 1,500 kilometres. This is a right in the sense that the statutory instrument authorises executive discretion to relieve the dealer of liability for up to that distance. The right is not absolute: the Secretary’s power is permissive, not mandatory, because the regulation uses “may waive”.

Conditional duties on dealer: The Regulation places a duty on the dealer who seeks the waiver to have lodged the declarations required by sections 10 and 11 of the Act. Regulation 5 does not elaborate the content, timing or form of those declarations; it simply makes their lodgement a precondition. The regulations do not prescribe any further procedural obligations, such as an application for waiver or documentation to substantiate the kilometres travelled, within the text of the Regulations themselves. Consequently, the dealer’s duty is to ensure the prerequisites that the Act (ss 10 and 11) demands are satisfied and lodged.

Administrative duties: The Secretary has the discretionary duty to consider waiving the first ZLEV charge where the conditions in regulation 5 are satisfied. The Regulations do not require the Secretary to grant the waiver, nor do they prescribe factors for decision-making, timeframes for exercise of discretion, or review mechanisms in these Regulations. Those procedural features, if any, will be found in the parent Act or in the Secretary’s administrative arrangements.

No new penalties or offences: The Regulations contain no penalties, infringement notices, or criminal offences. They do not alter the charging regime itself beyond specifying circumstances for waiver; they do not create enforcement mechanisms for non-compliance with declaration obligations beyond conditioning the waiver on those declarations having been lodged (regulation 5).

Interaction with broader statutory duties: Because “dealer” is defined by cross-reference to the Motor Car Traders Act 1986, dealers must ensure they meet the licensing and regulatory obligations under that Act to qualify for the waiver. The Regulations require that the dealer be a “registered operator of a ZLEV” , implying the registration obligations established by the Act must also be met. The Regulations therefore create a triangle of duties and rights in which qualification for the discretionary waiver depends on compliance with the Act’s declaration and registration requirements and on the dealer’s status under the Motor Car Traders Act 1986.

The Regulations themselves do not create penalties or enforcement procedures. There is no provision in the text of these Regulations that prescribes offences, fines, infringement notices, compliance notices or administrative sanctions. The Regulations are purely prescriptive of a waiver circumstance and leave any enforcement, penalty or compliance architecture to the parent Act or to other legislation.

What this absence means in practical terms is twofold. First, the implementation and enforcement of the ZLEV charging scheme and of any contraventions of obligations tied to declarations, registration, or payment will be governed by the Zero and Low Emission Vehicle Distance‑based Charge Act 2021 and any subordinate instruments made under that Act, not by these Regulations. Regulation 5 conditions the waiver on having lodged declarations required by ss 10 and 11 of the Act, but it does not, by itself, set out consequences for failing to lodge those declarations; instead, failure to lodge would simply mean the dealer is not eligible for the Secretary’s discretionary waiver under these Regulations.

Second, the Secretary’s discretion is not constrained in the Regulations by prescribed procedural protections such as mandatory reasons, internal review, external merits review or appeal rights. The Regulations say only that the Secretary “may waive” the amount of the first ZLEV charge when the specified conditions are met (regulation 5). Any rights to reasons, review or merits appeal would need to be located in the Act, in general administrative law, or in other applicable statutes (for example judicial review under general administrative law principles), but such avenues are not created or described in these Regulations.

Enforcement of the charging regime on roads described as “specified roads to which the charge applies” likewise falls outside these Regulations. The Regulations do not define “specified roads”; they therefore presuppose that the Act or other instruments define the charged road network and the enforcement mechanisms for distance-based charging. The endnotes do not indicate any additional enforcement provisions or penalties in the Regulations; they record only procedural and interpretative material and the sunset date (Endnotes, General information).

Finally, the Regulations do not provide guidance on how to establish or audit the kilometre limit (1,500 km) or how to treat partial kilometres, vehicle exchanges, or multiple dealers operating the same ZLEV; such enforcement and auditing mechanisms, if any, will be found under the Act or in administrative practice, not in this statutory rule.

The Regulations explicitly cross-reference and operate within a small statutory network.

• Zero and Low Emission Vehicle Distance‑based Charge Act 2021 (the Act): The Regulations are made under section 78 of the Act (regulation 2). Regulation 5 expressly operates “for the purposes of section 27(a) of the Act” and conditions the Secretary’s waiver on the lodging of declarations required by sections 10 and 11 of the Act. The Regulations therefore implement a specific delegated power under the Act and rely on the Act for key definitional, procedural and substantive elements (not reproduced in the Regulations), including what constitutes a ZLEV, registration mechanics, the content of the relevant declarations, and the design of the chargeable network.

• Motor Car Traders Act 1986: Regulation 4 defines “dealer” by reference to “licensed motor car trader” within the meaning of the Motor Car Traders Act 1986. The Regulations therefore import the licensing regime and any statutory definitions or eligibility criteria from the Motor Car Traders Act into the waiver rule. Eligibility for the waiver will therefore depend on meeting the licensing requirements and any restrictions or conditions that the Motor Car Traders Act imposes on a licensed motor car trader.

• Subordinate Legislation Act 1994: The endnotes state the Regulations will sunset 10 years after the date of making under the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (Endnotes, General information). That mechanism imposes a statutory time limit on the Regulations independent of the Act that authorised them.

• Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (ILA) and related interpretative rules: The endnotes include explanatory material on legislative interpretation (for example headings, punctuation, provision numbers, etc.). Those notes indicate that headings and notes form part of the Statutory Rule and set out how provision numbering and examples are to be treated. Those interpretative rules govern how these Regulations are to be read alongside other subordinate instruments.

What the Regulations do not do is amend or displace other laws. They do not alter the content of the Motor Car Traders Act or the parent Act; they deploy cross-references to those statutes to define eligibility and to condition waiver. The Regulations also do not create interactions with tax, customs, road traffic or registration legislation; any cross-cutting effects in those domains will derive from the Act’s broader scheme, not from these Regulations.

Operationally, compliance with these Regulations requires attention to the parent Act’s registration and declaration regimes and to the Motor Car Traders Act 1986 licensing status. Administrative procedures (for example, how the Secretary will record or process a waived first charge, or how the 1,500 km threshold will be measured and evidenced) are not set out here and will be handled through the Act’s mechanisms or under separate administrative instruments. The Regulations therefore form a narrow regulatory linkage within a broader legislative architecture.

The Regulations have no recorded amendments in the published version. The endnotes include a “Table of Amendments” which states that there are no amendments made to these Regulations by statutory rules, subordinate instruments or Acts (Endnotes, Table of Amendments). The “Amendments Not in Operation” note similarly states that this version does not contain amendments that are not yet in operation (Endnotes, item 3). The Explanatory Details section records “No entries at date of publication” (Endnotes, item 4).

Chronology provided in the endnotes: the Regulations were made on 29 June 2021 by the Governor in Council under section 78 of the Act and came into operation on 1 July 2021 (Endnotes, General information). The Regulations carry a Version No. 001 and are shown as “Version as at 1 July 2021” at the head of the document.

Sunset: The endnotes state these Regulations will sunset 10 years after the day of making, on 29 June 2031, pursuant to section 5 of the Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 (Endnotes, General information). There is no record in the text of any amendment instruments, repeal, or variation as at the version date.

Because there are no amendments recorded, there is no amendment history to analyse beyond the original making and the statutory sunset note. Any later amendments, revocations or replacement instruments would be documented in subsequent versions and in the public legislative register; none are present in this version. The lack of amendments may reflect the Regulations’ narrow scope and technical purpose, but the text itself does not supply reasons for the absence of changes.

The Regulations contain no litigation history. The published text and endnotes do not list any judicial or tribunal decisions that interpret or challenge the Regulations. The endnotes’ Table of Amendments and Explanatory Details record no entries, and there is no mention of cases, disputes, or precedent in the Regulations themselves.

Because the Regulations simply authorise a discretionary waiver by the Secretary and rely heavily on the parent Act for operative detail, any litigation that might arise would likely concern the Act’s charging regime, the Secretary’s exercise of discretion under section 27(a) of the Act, or the declarations required by ss 10 and 11 of the Act. Such litigation, if it exists, would be reported against the Act rather than these Regulations, and the Regulations do not themselves identify any existing litigation.

The Regulations’ silence on review or appeal procedures means that judicial review of any administrative decision to grant or refuse a waiver could proceed under general administrative law principles, but these Regulations do not provide statutory guidance on procedural fairness, reasons, or review rights. Any litigation history concerning the waiver power would therefore depend on administrative decisions made under the Act and on the facts of particular cases, none of which are in the Regulations’ text or the endnotes.

For practitioners preparing litigation or advice, the absence of litigation history in the Regulations flags that one must look to the parent Act, administrative records, and the courts database for any reported disputes concerning the ZLEV charge regime or the Secretary’s exercise of waiver powers. The Regulations themselves do not provide cases, references, or interpretive history.

Several practical pitfalls and potential sources of uncertainty follow directly from the narrow wording of the Regulations.

• Discretionary, not mandatory: Regulation 5 uses “may waive”, which confers discretion on the Secretary. There is no requirement that the waiver be granted even where the conditions (dealer status and lodged declarations) are met. Practitioners should not assume an automatic waiver; the Regulation creates a potential, not a guaranteed, relief. The Regulations do not set criteria for the Secretary’s exercise of discretion.

• Limited to the first charge: The waiver applies only to “the first ZLEV charge payable by a registered operator of a ZLEV who is a dealer” (regulation 5). The Regulations do not define “first” beyond the plain words; this raises potential interpretative questions where multiple dealers or successive registered operators are involved, where vehicles are sold or re-registered, or where registration status changes. The Regulations do not address those transactional edge cases.

• Kilometre cap and road specification: The waiver is confined to “up to 1500 kilometres travelled by the ZLEV on specified roads to which the charge applies” (regulation 5). The Regulations do not define “specified roads” within their text; that definition will come from the Act or related instruments. Practitioners must therefore cross-check the Act to determine which roads are included, and how kilometres on those roads are measured or evidenced.

• Conditional on declarations under ss 10 and 11 of the Act: The waiver requires the dealer to have “lodged the declarations required by sections 10 and 11 of the Act in relation to the ZLEV” (regulation 5). The Regulations do not specify the content, form, timing or manner of those declarations. If ss 10 and 11 impose strict formality or timing requirements, failure to comply could negate the waiver even where the dealer otherwise appears eligible.

• No procedural detail for claiming the waiver: The Regulations do not describe how a dealer obtains the waiver (for example, whether the Secretary will act on receipt of the declarations alone, whether a separate application is required, whether evidence of kilometres travelled is to be provided, or whether waivers will be granted in bulk or per vehicle). Administrative practice under the Act will therefore determine the concrete steps required.

• Evidence and audit risk: Because the Regulations do not set record‑keeping or evidential standards for the 1,500 km, dealers will need to rely on the Act or administrative guidance for what constitutes acceptable proof of distance travelled (odometer logs, GPS data, sale-related transfers). The absence of detail in the Regulations increases uncertainty and therefore compliance risk.

• Interaction with dealer licensing: The definition of “dealer” is by reference to the Motor Car Traders Act 1986 (regulation 4). If a person’s status as a licensed motor car trader is disputed, the dealer may not be eligible for the waiver; the Regulations do not address provisional or lapsed licences.

• Temporal limit: The Regulations will sunset on 29 June 2031 (Endnotes, General information). Any long-term commercial arrangements that rely on this waiver should account for that statutory lifecycle.

• No penalties or dispute resolution in the Regulations: The Regulations do not set out remedies or review routes if a dealer believes a waiver has been wrongly refused. Practitioners should look to the parent Act and general administrative law for remedies.

Each of these “gotchas” flows directly from the Regulations’ brevity and reliance on the Act for substantive standards. The practical effect is that many implementation and edge-case questions are deferred to the parent Act, administrative instruments, or practice, increasing the importance of reviewing the Act and any departmental guidance when advising dealers or administrating compliance.

Compliance under these Regulations requires satisfying the eligibility conditions set out by the Regulations while relying on the parent Act and related instruments to provide the operational detail the Regulations omit. The Regulations themselves set three concrete conditions: be a dealer (licensed motor car trader), be the registered operator of a ZLEV, and have lodged the declarations required by sections 10 and 11 of the Act (regulation 5). From those conditions, the following compliance steps flow.

1. Confirm dealer status under the Motor Car Traders Act 1986

   • Ensure the entity or natural person is a “licensed motor car trader” as defined by that Act, and that the licence is current and not subject to conditions that might affect eligibility. Regulation 4 imports that definition; without licensed status the waiver is not available.

2. Ensure registration as ZLEV operator under the Act

   • The waiver is framed as relieving “the registered operator of a ZLEV” of the first charge. Dealers must therefore ensure the vehicle is registered as a ZLEV operator in accordance with the Act’s registration procedures. The Regulations do not set these procedures; practitioners should follow ss 10-11 and other registration provisions in the Act.

3. Lodge the declarations required by sections 10 and 11 of the Act

   • Regulation 5 makes lodgement of those declarations a precondition. Although the Regulations do not specify content or form, compliance requires that the declarations mandated by the Act are completed, lodged in accordance with any form or timing requirements in the Act, and that records of lodgement are retained.

4. Maintain contemporaneous distance records

   • Because the waiver applies only for up to 1,500 km travelled on specified chargeable roads, dealers should keep reliable records that will show how many kilometres the ZLEV travelled on the specified roads during the period that would be covered by the first charge. The Regulations do not prescribe the form of those records, so practical options include odometer logs, GPS telematics, or buyer receipt records that tie travel to the dealer’s possession of the vehicle. Retain such records in case the Secretary or the administering agency seeks evidence.

5. Seek confirmation of waiver process from the administering agency

   • The Regulations do not set an application process or timeframe for the Secretary to exercise the waiver discretion. Dealers should contact the administering agency or consult the Act’s administrative rules to determine whether a separate application or notification is required beyond lodging the Act’s declarations.

6. Account for the 1,500 km and “specified roads” scope

   • Determine which roads are “specified roads to which the charge applies” by consulting the Act or any instruments under it. The waiver covers only up to 1,500 km on those roads; kilometres driven off those roads are not within the waiver per regulation 5.

7. Coordinate with sales and transfer processes

   • Where vehicles are driven by the dealer for demonstration, transport between sites, or delivery to buyers, ensure that such travel is monitored against the 1,500 km threshold and that the vehicle’s registration and declaration status aligns with the period of dealer control. The Regulations apply to the “first ZLEV charge payable by a registered operator of a ZLEV who is a dealer”; changes of registered operator may affect whether the waiver applies.

8. Retain documentary evidence of declarations and licence

   • Keep copies of the lodged declarations under ss 10 and 11 and records of dealer licensing to support any claim for waiver. Because the Regulations do not specify evidentiary standards, relying on contemporaneous, verifiable documentation is prudent.

9. Monitor administrative guidance and the Act

   • Given these Regulations’ brevity and reliance on the Act, administrators may publish operational guidance, forms or FAQs. Dealers and advisers should monitor departmental communications and the Act itself for procedural rules, evidence requirements, or forms that affect waiver claims.

10. Plan for the temporal limit

    • The Regulations are subject to a sunset on 29 June 2031 (Endnotes, General information). For long‑term compliance strategies or contracts that anticipate relief beyond that date, plan for the potential expiry of the waiver mechanism or legislative change.

In short, compliance requires meeting the three stated conditions in regulation 5 and then working through the Act and administrative practice to understand the mechanics of lodging declarations, proving kilometres travelled on specified roads, and securing the Secretary’s discretionary waiver. The Regulations do not provide a standalone compliance checklist; they predicate compliance on compliance with the Act and the Motor Car Traders Act 1986.