The Road Transport Certifying Engineers Group (RTCE), are a Technical Interest Group (TIG) of The Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand (IPENZ).

Our members are involved in the Design, Specification & Certification of New, Modifications & Repairs to Heavy Motor Vehicles.

The RTCE Group is a learned forum for our members to support and mentor each other, share and discuss information, lobby for changes in legislation and to work with the Land Tranport NZ and keep them informed of trends or issues within the industry.

What is Heavy Vehicle Certification?
There are two ways that Heavy Vehicle Certifying Engineers become involved in the Certification for Heavy Vehicles.

Firstly, every 6 months Heavy Motor Vehicles must be checked by a COF (Certificate of Fitness) Agent to ascertain its roadworthiness. Testing Stations, such as AA Vehicle Testing, Vehicle Testing NZ and On Road NZ , will check the vehicles and if they find something that needs repairing they will issue the owner with a notice outlining where the repair that is required as request an LT400 for the certification of the completed repair. It is then up to the vehicle owner to find a suitable repairer of their choosing to undertake the repair work.

Secondly, vehicle owners sometimes wish to have modifications undertaken which change the structure of their vehicle (or part/s of the structure of their vehicles). They too will need to find an transport engineering company to undertake this work.

In both cases, the vehicle's modifications or repairs need to be certified by a Heavy Vehicle Certifying Engineer.

The Certifying Engineer must inspect the vehicle BEFORE any structural work has been undertaken, so that they can provide design instructions drawings & specifications to the transport engineer / company undertaking the repairs / modifications.
The Certifying Engineer will often inspect the vehicle whilst the work is in progress.
The Certifying Engineer MUST PERSONALLY re-inspect the vehicle & alterations AFTER completion of the repairs / modification to ensure that the work was undertaken to the specifications & standards required.

When the Heavy Vehicle Certifier is satisfied with the work that has been undertaken, he/she will issue an LT400 Form which certifies the repair / modification as being complete and up to required standards.
The owner must immediately present this to a Heavy Vehicle Testing Station for loading into the Land Transport NZ Landata computer records system.

The owner may deal directly with the Engineer or the repair agent will contact the Engineer on behalf of the client.
(Note: Some Vehicle Manufacturers have their own Certifying Engineers).

LT400
The LT400 is the Land Transport NZ form that a Heavy Vehicle Certifying Engineer issues upon completion of repair / modification work.

It contains:
Heavy Vehicle Inspector's Name & ID
Vehicle Identifiers (Reg. No. & VIN / Chassis No.)
Component & Certification Category
Description of Work - Repair, Modification and/or Component Descriptions
Code or Standard that the component is certified to.
Component Load Rating
Supporting Documentation (that the HVCE has on file)
Any Special Conditions
Certification Expiry Date or Hubometer Reading (if applicable)
HVCE Signature & Date

The owner needs to immediately give the ORIGINAL LT400 to the CoF testing agent. The LT400 is used to demonstrate certification to the CoF Agent, and subsequently Land Transport NZ, that the work was undertaken & completed to the required standard(s).

This information is then loaded into the Land Transport NZ Landata computer records system.

Categories of Certification
There are many different categories for Certification and each individual Engineer must pass examination in the category or categories they choose before being allowed to certify Heavy Vehicles for that particular type of work. See below for a list of the type of Heavy Vehicle Certification Categories and the work that this relates to: