BIC says adapting to international standards would be ‘complex’

The Bus Industry Confederation (BIC) has responded to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts’s (DITRDCA) intentions to harmonise with international standards, saying the task would be “complex”.

The Australian government commissioned an independent review of Australian Design Rules (ADRs) at the end of last year, looking at how closely Australia’s ADRs align with international standards, and how these can be better aligned.

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The review engaged Dr Warren Mundy to conduct the review, and looked at the implications of streamlining the process of ADR harmonisation, as well as the risks and opportunities presented by taking United Nations standards and ‘converting’ them into ADRs.

Opening up the conversation to stakeholders and those in the various concerned industries, BIC has now responded with a submission that highlights how the bus industry is vastly different than other heavy vehicle industries.

In its submission, BIC outlines that it is not opposed to harmonisation where it is appropriate but highlights it would be a complex task that requires a lot of moving parts.

“Technology on buses can’t always be grouped in with trucks or cars or just left behind because there are lower volumes,” the submission reads.

“Buses are a unique category of their own and have unique technologies. We acknowledge the volume of buses are a fraction of cars or trucks, but buses have unique requirements to ensure the safe carriage of the general public to their destination.”

BIC says that the DITRDCA is under resourced to adequately support the bus industry, especially with the increase in and complexity of technology, and fast pace of technology advancement.

“European ADRs are not subject to the same extent of jurisdiction and independent regulator laws, policies and regulations that are already in place to support the bus industry,” the submission reads.

“This is not a criticism, but the reality is that these parties, such as the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR), National Transport Commission (NTC) and state jurisdictions, have been more agile in supporting changes and requirements affecting our industry.”

It goes on to say that the personnel in DITRDCA are generally very supportive, but there simply isn’t enough resources to support the fast pace of change or industry needs.

The submission also outlines that in regulation development, there hasn’t been enough focus on buses to adequately support the Australian industry requirements to manage technology changes.

Referencing the recent introduction of driver safety screens in multiple states, the submission called out how these changes were left to the industry to develop and manage, with little involvement from other agencies.

It also called out the bus safety working group set up by the DITRDCA, which aimed to further improve safety at the regulatory level, was concluded after completing only one of its 10 set objectives.

One of BIC’s major concerns with the DITRDCA’s plan was that this could hinder local manufacturing and create the need to comply with international standards already used by overseas suppliers.

“This has the potential to create an uneven playing field. Conversely, overseas manufacturers have invested in complying local models to meet local regulations,” it reads.

“Effectively this will lead to “re-compliance” of local models to international standards which may lead to unintended consequences including industry waste and increased cost of production.”

Moving forward, BIC suggest that if harmonisation with international standards was to work, the DITRDCA would have to be sufficiently resourced to have a seat at the table at any international standards development.

It also suggested that Australian industry peak bodies and key stakeholders are informed and therefore can collaboratively support DITRDCA and the industry as a collective, and an equal playing field would have to be maintained.