Aftermarket Exhaust Labels - Legal Requirement

In July 2000 the Environmental Protection Authority introduced a new regulation requiring all motorycles to carry a specific label on an aftermarket exhaust or face a $200 fine.

The EPA made no attempt to inform riders of this new law, and have not made information available about it, so most riders with aftermarket exhausts can't make them legal. Unlike car owners the only way they can have a known legal pipe is to buy a standard exhaust.

Fines and defect notices are being issued by the EPA inspectors, and by the Police.

This regulation is retrospective, unlike most laws which only affect things done after the law was passed. It's effectively anti-competitive - as no one knows how to make aftermarket exhausts legal all riders can do is to fit the expensive original equipment instead of having a wide choice of imported or locally made parts, and local makers can't sell legal exhausts.

The Police are using a Random Breath Test station as a means of collecting motorcycles from the road for the EPA and the Police to issue fines. Riders are effectively arrested so the EPA can noise test their machines, and check for stickers causing delays for up to two hours on the roadside.

This enforcement regime has soured relations between Police and riders at a time when it was hoped riders and Police could work together towards real improvements in road safety. Other agencies of Government have been working with riders to improve safety and these actions initiated by EPA have destroyed several years of good work.

The law appears to be used primarily to raise money, it is not being used to target excessively noisy motorcycles, but to collect a "sticker tax". Bikes that are at or below the legal noise limit have been hit with the fine.

The EPA has even been issuing fines for failing to carry a sticker on the fuel tank which says "unleaded fuel only", despite the law requiring this label having been repealed when leaded fuel was phased out.

The Motorcycle Council of NSW has asked the NSW government to have the unreasonable law for exhaust labels overturned and the fines returned for both "offences".