FCAI praises government for grey import stance

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) has offered its approval of the federal government's official announcement today that it will not deregulate personal vehicle importation.

Previously, Paul Fletcher, the Minister for Urban Infrastructure, had flagged an intention to allow largely unrestricted parallel importation from markets where cars were subject to design rules similar to Australia's.

In the FCAI statement, Tony Weber, Chief Executive of the FCAI, observed that the government's decision was based on its own findings that consumers would not necessarily be protected adequately by opening up the market to parallel imports.

"The industry has long held the view that personal imports are not in the interest of consumers, nor of the 236,000 people who are either directly or indirectly employed in the Australian motor industry," Weber was quoted saying in the FCAI press release.

"Australia already has one of the most competitive motor vehicle markets in the world, delivering world quality vehicles and outstanding value for the consumer.

"To allow personal imports would have exposed consumers to enormous risks, which the Government's own analysis has clearly identified."

"The broad picture offered by the Government in its statement is one which now provides legislative certainty and clarity and most importantly, better protection for Australian consumers," Mr Weber added.

It's not all bad news for fans of parallel importation, however. The FCAI boss expressed caution concerning the government's announcement it would widen the criteria for importation under SEVS (Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicles Scheme).

Paul Fletcher's press release reveals that the Road Vehicle Standards Bill will be introduced to Parliament before the end of 2017, for implementation from 2019.

In the amended form of the legislation, according to the press release, "the Turnbull Government has decided not to proceed with one element of changes proposed earlier, which would have allowed personal importation of new motor vehicles from the United Kingdom and Japan."

Protecting consumers and keeping them properly informed under the new legislation would have been prohibitively costly and complex, the minister claimed. Contributing to the cost and complexity were the vehicle warranty (which may not match warranty coverage for locally-delivered cars) and recalls.

Ensuring subsequent owners of parallel imports were also aware of their rights and obligations would have exacerbated the challenge posed, the press release revealed.

Balanced against these issues were the benefits to the consumer, which the government calculates to be pricing discounted no more than two per cent across the market.

As an olive branch to consumers, the government plans to apply six eligibility criteria to SEVS, but an imported vehicle only needs to meet one criterion, not the two out of four currently on the books. The new eligibility criteria will be:

Additionally, the new bill will "clarify vehicle recall arrangements" by aligning vehicle recall provisions with safety recall provisions under Australian Consumer Law.

The act will also "accelerate harmonisation of vehicles with international standards" and establish "secure vehicle identification marking" on all new vehicles, to reduce theft and rebirthing.

Picture courtesy of Jeremy/Wikimedia Commons