Australian Design Rule Amendments Packages
New amendments up to date 2026-03-11
ADR Department signed two amendment packages in late 2025 to update a number of existing Australian DesignRules (ADRs).
The purpose of these amending instruments is to ensure national road vehicle standards are accurate, fit-for-purpose, and harmonised with international regulations where possible.
The ADR Alternative Standard Amendments 2025 and ADR Amendment Instrument No.1 of 2025 packages have been published on the Federal Register of Legislation and are now in effect.
Alternative standards updated
The Alternative Standard Amendments 2025 package came into effect on Wednesday, 4 February 2026. The purpose of this package is to harmonise the following vehicle standards with international vehicle regulations like UN ECE:
- ADR 3/04 – Seats and Seat Anchorages
- ADR 4/06 – Seatbelts
- ADR 5/06 – Anchorages for Seatbelts0ADR 14/03 – Devices for Indirect Vision
- ADR 18/03 – Instrumentation
- ADR 92/00 – External Projections
- ADR 93/00 – Forward Field of View
The amending instrument updates the accepted alternative standards for each of the above ADRs to include more recent series of United Nations (UN) Regulation amendments. It also makes other minor editorial changes to align these ADRs with the drafting practices, technical requirements, and clauses of relevant UN Regulations.
Upcoming ADR applicability dates
The below requirements come into effect for new model vehicles in 2026.
ADR 81/03 – Fuel and Energy Consumption Labelling for Light Vehicles willapply to all new model MA, MB, MC, MD and NA category vehicles from 1 July2026.
ADR 99/01 – Lane Departure Warning Systems will apply to all new model MD,NB and NC category vehicles from 1 September 2026.
ADR 68/01 – Occupant Protection in Buses will apply to all new model MD3,MD4 and ME category vehicles from 1 November 2026.
ADR 72/01 – Dynamic Side Impact Occupant Protection will apply to certain new model battery electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles in MA, MB, MC and NA vehicle categories from 1 November 2026.
The below requirements come into effect for all models in 2026.
- ADR 98/01 – Advanced Emergency Braking for Passenger Vehicles and Light Vehicles will apply to all MA, MB, MC and NA category vehicles from 1 August 2026
- ADR 110/00 – Hydrogen-Fuelled Vehicles Safety Related Performance will apply to all MA, MB, MC, MD, ME, NA, NB and NC category vehicles fitted with a compressed hydrogen storage system from 1 November 2026.
- ADR 113/00 – Acoustic Vehicle Alerting Systems for Quiet Road Transport Vehicles will apply to all electrified MA, MB, MC, MD, ME, NA, NB and NC category vehicles from 1 November 2026.
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