Technical bulletins
48 Verification of compliance with Australian Design Rules (ADRs)
There have been changes to the Australian Road Vehicle Standards (RVS) legislation. Included in these changes is the introduction of the Register of Approved Vehicles (RAV), a publicly searchable database of vehicles that have met the requirements of the RVS legislation and been given Australian Design Rules (ADR) approval. The RAV replaces the need for the physical ADR compliance plates previously fitted to vehicles.
Under the RVS legislation, all road vehicles - cars, trucks, trailers, caravans etc must be entered on the RAV before they can be provided to the market for the first time in Australia.
The RAV is searchable using the vehicle’s permanently marked Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). The VIN uniquely identifies a vehicle and is permanently recorded on it. The VIN is usually found at the base of the windscreen (visible from outside the car) or on the door post or foot well of the vehicle.
How to verify if a vehicle is compliant with with relevant ADRs
1. Visit the Register of Approved Vehicles Search
2. Enter the VIN into the search field. If the vehicle is ADR-approved the search field will take you to another screen with the approval number shown as in example below.
3. Copy the approval number (partially blurred in the sample above for privacy) and then go the the ROVER website to check which ADRs apply to this approval number.
4. Scroll down to List of road vehicle type approvals and click on the blue 'Road vehicle type approvals' button.
5. Enter the approval number in the search field and press enter.
After entering the approval number in the search field and pressing enter, the table below will self-populate.
6. Click on the blue approval number text and next screen will list all the ADRs and other vehicle attributes relating to the vehicle search.
