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The National Heavy Vehicle Accreditation Scheme (NHVAS) is changing.
From mid-2026, the NHVAS will be progressively replaced by the Heavy Vehicle Accreditation (HVA) scheme following the implementation of the Heavy Vehicle National Law Amendment Bill 2025.
The NHVR will manage a phased transition approach to ensure existing NHVAS operators have time to prepare for the new HVA scheme. It is important to note that:
- Existing NHVAS operators will not be required to transition to the new HVA scheme immediately when the amended law commences mid-year. They will be able to operate under the NHVAS scheme up until the expiry of their NHVAS accreditation.
- The NHVR transition approach will allow industry to either maintain their NHVAS accreditation (dependent on expiry), exit or request extensions where required to support transition (accreditation period can be a maximum of 3 years).
- The NHVR will communicate directly with operators to ensure that they are aware of their accreditation expiry dates and have adequate time to access available transition options.
- NHVAS and HVA will operate side by side during the transition period (however, operators can only be accredited in one scheme at a time).
- Safety Management System (SMS) tools and guidance material will be made available to support operators transitioning to the new scheme.
- Templated work and rest hours will be available to support industry to adopt Alternative Compliance Accreditation – Fatigue under the HVA scheme. The templates have been tried and tested based on real-world operating conditions and reduce the time required for operators to prepare bespoke work and rest hours that meet safety expectations.
- Further details on the requirements of the new HVA scheme are being developed and will be shared with industry.
While the official commencement date of the amended legislation is still subject to Ministerial approval, the NHVR is working towards being implementation-ready by 1 July 2026.
