All changes to the Rail Safety National Law Act and Regulations are approved by the Ministerial Transport and Infrastructure Council, which comprises each state/territory transport Minister.

Changes to the regulations are made by the South Australian Governor and published on the NSW Legislative website, in accordance with section 265 of the Rail Safety National Law and Part 6A of the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW).

Links to the current Act and regulations as they apply in each state/territory are on our Legislation page.

Commencement date	Summary of the changes	Detailed changes
24 May 2021	Minor changes to regulation 37 (1a) to clarify that any document provided in accordance with section 20, or that contains any part of a train safety recording, will be exempt from being compelled under the Freedom of Information Act.	Rail Safety National Law National Regulations (Modification of FOI Act) Variation Regulations 2021*
1 July 2020 - Act	Changes to section 4 and 8(1)	Rail Safety National Law (South Australia) (Rail Safety Work) Amendment Act 2020*
1 July 2020 - regulations	Variable fee rates for 2020-21 Update to the reference to the Northern Territory gazette to ensure regulation 25 remains current as changes are gazetted. Minor change to clarify that immediate verbal reports of category A occurrences must be reported to ONRSR (current arrangement).	Rail Safety National Law National Regulations (Fees and Other Measures) Variation Regulations 2020
2 December 2019	Regulation 7 (1) (e) removed (excluded Victorian railways)	RSNL National Regulations (Application of Law) Variation Regulations 2019*
1 July 2019 – Act	Changes to the Rail Safety National Law (2019).pdf	RSNL (South Australia) (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2019*
1 July 2019 – Regulations		RSNL National Regulations Variation Regulation 2019* RSNL National Regulations (Fees) Variation Regulation 2019
1 July 2017 – Act	Changes to the Rail Safety National Law (2017)	Rail Safety National Law (South Australia) (Miscellaneous No 3) Amendment Act 2017*
1 July 2017 – Regulations		RSNL National Regulations Variation Regulations 2016* RSNL National Regulations (Queensland Fatigue Provisions) Variation Regulations 2017)* RSNL National Regulations (Fees and Returns) Variation Regulations 2017 *
1 August 2016 – Act	Changes to the Rail Safety National Law (2016)	RSNL (South Australia) (Miscellaneous No 2) Amendment Act 2016*
1 July 2016 – Regulations		Rail Safety National Law National Regulations (Fees) Variation Regulations 2016 Rail Safety National Law National Regulations  Variation Regulations 2016*
1 July 2015 - Act	Changes to the Rail Safety National Law (2014)	Rail Safety National Law (South    Australia) (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2015*
1 July 2015 – Regulations		Rail Safety National Law National Regulations (Fees) Variation Regulations 2015 Rail Safety National Law National Regulations Variation Regulations 2015

* Commencement of the changes in Western Australia is subject to a separate parliamentary process and timing. Further information will be provided when known.

Updated documents

These documents have been updated as a result of legislative changes. Note that documents may have been updated further since the legislation commenced.

Updated and New ONRSR documents from 1 July 2020
Identifying rail safety work under the RSNL Guideline	Updated to reflect legislative changes to section 4 and 8 of the RSNL.

Last updated: 11 June 2021