Users of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator’s (NHVR) Registration Checker app can now check for primary producer concessions across all eastern states and South Australia.

NHVR CEO Sal Petroccitto said the free service would allow loaders, packers and other supply chain parties to ensure vehicles were operating under the correct registration.

“We’ve responded to feedback from industry groups and businesses that regularly raise concerns about some operators using primary producer discounts to operate on a commercial basis,” Mr Petroccitto said.

“Including concession information will help industry and governments address, and hopefully begin to reduce concession misuse across the industry in a more collective way.”

Mr Petroccitto said the NHVR had worked with states and territories (that hold responsibility for registration laws and concessions) to address industry concerns.  He thanked participating jurisdictions for agreeing to include registration concession information in the Registration Checker app.

The Registration Checker app is an easy-to-use system that establishes the status of a heavy vehicle’s registration by keying in or taking a photo of a license plate’s details.

Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association National President Scott McDonald said making the concessional information available was a step in the right direction.

“Our member operators often report vehicles registered under primary producer schemes that are operating on a commercial basis – up to 10 per cent of vehicles in some areas,” Mr McDonald said.

“Allowing authorised officers and other parties in the supply chain access to this information is an important step in stopping this behaviour.”

NatRoad CEO Warren Clark welcomed the information being available publicly.

“This is a good step to better identifying where unfair competition is taking place and I thank the states involved for making the information available,” Mr Clark said.

The app will also incorporate information on the dangerous goods licence details of vehicles registered in NSW and Western Australia on their mobile devices.

“We’ve worked collaboratively with Western Australia’s Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety and the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to include dangerous goods vehicle licence information in the app,” Mr Petroccitto said.

“The app now makes it easy to establish the dangerous goods status of a vehicle in Western Australia and New South Wales at the same time as undertaking other registration checks.”

The NHVR will continue discussions with dangerous goods regulators in other states and territories regarding possible inclusion of their information in the future.

New South Wales EPA Executive Director Regulatory Practice and Environmental Solutions, David Fowler said the app would streamline routine compliance checks.

“Being able to carry out digital checks will help users verify vehicles are appropriately licensed quickly and accurately,” Mr Fowler said.

To use the app to check a vehicle’s dangerous good status, users simply enter the vehicle’s registration or take a picture of the number plate.

The NHVR Registration Checker app can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store or Google Play and is compatible with Android and IOS.

For more details, visit www.nhvr.gov.au/registration

Payments and queries regarding heavy vehicle registration and licencing should be directed to the relevant state or territory road transport authority.