2003

THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
FOR THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

ROAD TRANSPORT (VEHICLE REGISTRATION AND RELATED FEES) 
DETERMINATION 2003 (No 1)

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Circulated by authority of

Bill Wood MLA
Minister for Urban Services

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

ROAD TRANSPORT (VEHICLE REGISTRATION AND RELATED FEES) 
DETERMINATION 2003 (No 1)

INSTRUMENT No. DI 2003 - 79

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

This instrument has the effect of determining fees, payable in advance, for transactions relating to vehicle registration under the Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Regulations 2000.  

The registration fees for all light vehicles have been aligned with the corresponding fees in NSW.  The registration fees have been increased to a level which, when combined with the ACT road rescue fee, is equal to the NSW road tax plus the NSW administration fee for the corresponding vehicle types.  ACT registration fees were first aligned with NSW fees in September 1998, and were re-aligned, after some deviation, by the current Government in the 2002/2003 budget. 

All other fees are increased by the consumer price index (CPI).  In some cases lower fees may appear to have gone up by more than CPI, for example the fee for issue of a permit to move an unregistered vehicle has risen from $16 to $17.  In these cases the fee will not have risen for the last two or three financial years because a CPI rise would produce a fee ending in 50c, which is not preferred for registration transactions.  Instead, the cumulative CPI since the last fee increase (e.g. 2.5% over two years becomes 5%) is applied and the result is rounded down to the nearest dollar.  

Heavy Vehicle Charges
Amendments were made in 2002 to the Road Transport Charges (Australian Capital Territory) Act 1993 (the Act) that ensure that adjustments occur automatically each year.  This Commonwealth legislation applies directly to the ACT and is used as ‘template’ legislation by other jurisdictions.  Section 2 of the Act requires the ACT Minister to also determine the charges, hence the charges are included in this determination.