Drivers will be pleased to hear they now only have to keep their logbooks for 12 months.

Statutes Amendment Act 2016 No. 104 has revised the retention period. Previously drivers and employers were required to retain logbooks for 36 months after the date of the last entry in the logbook, but that has now been reduced to 12 months.

This was achieved by adjusting Section 30ZH of the Land Transport Act. 30ZH relates to the period of time a logbook must be retained by a driver and employer. The Road Transport Forum has on numerous occasions questioned the logbook retention period, and the recent amendment addresses their concern.

Employers are reminded that other legislation requires records to be kept for different periods of time stipulated by the Land Transport Act and to keep that in mind when reading this.

Section 30ZH of the Act now reads:

30ZH Duties regarding logbooks

(1) A driver must
(a) retain a logbook required to be maintained by that driver under section 30ZF for a period of 12 months after the date of the last entry in that logbook; and
(b) in the case of a driver who is an employee, deliver a copy of each completed logbook record to the driver‘s employer within 14 days after completing that record, and the employer must retain the copy of each logbook record for a period of 12 months from the date of the record.