Traffic Safety Product Certification in Australia and New Zealand

There is no single "Australian certification" for traffic safety products. Acceptance runs on two separate tracks. The product has to be manufactured to the applicable Australian Standard, and for work on a state road authority network it usually also has to be listed on that authority's approved products or registered suppliers register. Those are two different applications with two different evidence packs.

For cones the standards side means a clause in AS 1742.3 rather than a product standard of their own, with the sheeting covered separately. In New Zealand the levers differ again: the NZGTTM now governs temporary traffic management, and hardware that is not on an accepted list goes through NZTA's interim acceptance route.

Traffic cone with a wide reflective band. Two tracks apply: the standard it is built to, and the register it has to appear on.

The two tracks, and why confusing them costs you a project

A product can be fully standards-compliant and still be unsupplyable into a given state's road projects. Buyers who only ask for "the certificate" tend to discover this after they have ordered.

Australia: which standards actually apply

Start with the sheeting, because it has a standard of its own: AS/NZS 1906.1:2017, the joint Australian and New Zealand standard covering retroreflective sheeting. Its published scope reads:

"Specifies the performance requirements for retroreflective sheeting used in the manufacture of road signs and related traffic control devices. It does not apply to retroreflective pavement markings."

The wording of the title is the point. That standard is about sheeting, meaning the retroreflective material itself. It is not a product standard for a finished cone, and treating it as one is a common paperwork error.

Cones and temporary bollards sit in the manual of uniform traffic control devices, AS 1742.3:2019, Part 3: Traffic control for works on roads. Look for clause 4.11.1, titled "Traffic cones and temporary bollards". Clause 4.11 as a whole covers devices for delineating and indicating the travelled path.

One more thing changed with the 2019 revision, and it catches people out. When Standards Australia updated the document, it took out everything it judged to be guidance rather than requirement, and moved that material elsewhere. Austroads describes where it went:

"This guidance material has been substantially transferred into the Austroads Guide to Temporary Traffic Management."

To help with the transition, Austroads publishes a mapping document, AP-C109-20, which takes each piece of the superseded 2009 content and points it at either the 2019 standard or the guide. For a specifier the consequence is straightforward. You now need two documents where one used to do, and supplier paperwork regularly arrives carrying only one of them.

The related parts move on their own schedules rather than as a set. Devices for general use sit in Part 2, at the 2022 edition. Speed controls are in Part 4, 2020. Local area traffic management is Part 13, 2023. Direction signs are Part 15, 2019. If a project cites a part, check which edition it is citing.

The Queensland register: what an application actually requires

Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads keeps "lists of registered suppliers and approved products", and it publishes the technical requirements openly. This is the most concrete evidence set in Australia, and it is a useful template for what other states will ask you for.

"For a cone or bollard product to be accepted as compliant for use in Queensland, the manufacture / distributor must complete the checklist provided in Appendix A."

That final row is the one overseas manufacturers miss most often. Moving production to a different factory invalidates the acceptance and forces a re-application, even when the drawings have not changed at all.

On sheeting classes, Queensland states that class 100, 400 and 1100, including temporary variations, "are approved for use on Queensland roads, see MRTS14 Specification and Annexure for specified application requirements." The application form offers Class 400T, Class 400 and Class 1100.

There is also a scope limit worth knowing. "Cones and bollards nominated on the department's accepted products list are accepted for temporary use in both short and long-term roadworks sites only."

New Zealand: NZGTTM has replaced CoPTTM

This changed recently, and a lot of supplier documentation still cites the old code. The differences are worth tabulating.

Which means a supplier who still quotes CoPTTM as the current requirement is showing you documentation that has not been maintained. That is worth weighing, beyond the compliance question itself.

For hardware that is not on an accepted list, NZTA publishes interim acceptances "pending inclusion in the appropriate NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi specification or guidance documentation", and sets out an explicit route:

"Prior to use of road safety barrier hardware not listed as accepted in M23 a submission must be made to the NZTA Programme and Standards Lead Safety Advisor for review and acceptance on a project or site-specific basis."

"The submission must include evidence of the performance capabilities of the proposed hardware (eg crash test results to MASH protocol), an explanation of why use of the product is proposed and an assessment of the risks compared to use of accepted hardware. Please allow at least 10 working days for assessment of a submission."

Behind that route sits NZTA M23, the road safety barrier systems specification, in its Version 5.0 of April 2022.

The evidence pack a buyer should ask for

Where the material is retroreflective, Queensland's sheeting checklist names the exact test reports required under AS 1906.1:2017. That list is a good way to audit any Australian or New Zealand document pack you are handed.

Seven reports. A supplier who hands over "a certificate" and no test reports has not evidenced the material class at all, whatever the certificate says on it.

Flexible posts with reflective collars. Cones are not the only device a state register covers.

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Three things that do not exist, despite what you may be told

1. There is no dedicated Australian product standard for traffic cones. The requirements live inside AS 1742.3 as a clause, with the sheeting governed by a separate standard. If a datasheet claims to be "certified to the Australian traffic cone standard", ask which document that is.
2. There is no detectable-tape part in AS/NZS 2648. The series currently publishes Part 1, which dates from 1995 and is titled "Underground marking tape, Part 1: Non-detectable tape". Its scope is expressly tape which is not detectable by metal detectors. No Part 2 covering metal-detectable tape could be located on the official catalogue. If a supplier claims "AS/NZS 2648 compliant detectable tape", that is not a thing as published.
3. Acceptance is neither permanent nor transferable between factories. In Queensland it runs three years, and it ceases on a change of manufacturing location.

Traffic cones in three sizes. Australia and New Zealand split the requirements across a clause and a separate sheeting standard.

How Australia compares with the UK and the US

Each market runs on different instruments, and it is worth knowing which model you are selling into. The UK keeps it in one statutory instrument, TSRGD 2016, pointing at a single European product standard and naming four performance classes. Our guide to UK traffic cone standards sets those out.

The US sits between the two. A federal manual, the MUTCD, sets the band geometry in Section 6K.03, a material specification sets the sheeting type, and a certification chain does the enforcement. Our guide to MUTCD cone requirements and reflective tape covers that side.

Australia and New Zealand have the heaviest paperwork burden of the three, because the register track sits on top of the standards track rather than replacing it.

Planning a register application

The published requirements tell you what to prepare. They do not tell you the order to do it in, and the order matters when two applications are running together.

Start with the sheeting. The reflective element has to be an accepted product in its own right before the cone can be, and if it is not, the checklist calls for a concurrent application. Two lots of laboratory work then sit on the same clock.

Line the laboratory up next, since all seven reports have to come from an accredited facility. Then settle the marking on the reflective element against the clause the checklist names, because that is a recorded failure point rather than a formality. Only after that does the sample go to Brisbane.

And budget for the renewal cycle from the start. Three years from the date on the letter of acceptance, with no transfer if production moves to another factory.

FAQ

What certification do traffic safety products need for Australia?

Two separate things. Manufacture to the applicable Australian Standard, which for cones means clause 4.11.1 of AS 1742.3:2019 with the sheeting to AS/NZS 1906.1:2017. And, for state road authority work, listing on that authority's approved products or registered suppliers list, which requires its own application, laboratory test reports and product sample.

Who can issue the test reports?

For Queensland, tests demonstrating compliance with the stated Australian Standards must be conducted by a National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) or equivalent accredited laboratory.

What sheeting classes are accepted in Queensland?

Class 100, 400 and 1100, including temporary variations, are approved for use on Queensland roads under the MRTS14 Specification.

How long does an Australian product acceptance last?

In Queensland, three years from the date nominated on the letter of acceptance. It ends earlier if the product is redesigned, if the governing specifications change, if the manufacturing process changes, or if the location of manufacturing changes.

Is CoPTTM still the New Zealand requirement?

No. The NZGTTM replaced CoPTTM, CoPTTM has not been updated since 1 November 2024, and the NZGTTM must be applied to all NZTA maintenance and capital projects from 1 October 2025.

How do I get a product accepted for New Zealand if it is not listed?

Go through the NZTA interim acceptance route. That means a submission to the NZTA Programme and Standards Lead Safety Advisor, carrying evidence of performance, the rationale for using the product, and a risk assessment against accepted hardware. Allow at least 10 working days for the assessment.

If you need a state register application supported with the test reports and the sample, send us the state and the product type and we will tell you what the pack has to contain.

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Sources

Standards catalogue metadata

• AS/NZS 1906.1:2017 — standards.govt.nz
• AS 1742.3:2019 — store.standards.org.au
• AS/NZS 2648.1:1995 — store.standards.org.au

Queensland, Department of Transport and Main Roads

• Approved products and registered suppliers — tmr.qld.gov.au
• Traffic engineering and road safety lists — tmr.qld.gov.au
• Cones and Bollards Technical Requirements and Checklist, June 2025 — PDF
• Retroreflective Sheeting Technical Requirements and Checklist, June 2025 — PDF

New Zealand, NZTA Waka Kotahi

• New Zealand guide to temporary traffic management — nzta.govt.nz
• Code of practice for temporary traffic management, status — nzta.govt.nz
• Road safety barrier systems, M23 v5.0 and interim acceptance route — nzta.govt.nz
• Land Transport Rule: Traffic Control Devices 2004 — nzta.govt.nz

Austroads

• Guide to Temporary Traffic Management content mapping, AP-C109-20 — austroads.gov.au