Reading comprehension is really put to the test when you try to interpret vehicle rules and regulations, because you often have to read other rules and regulations to figure out what is or isn't actually required or allowed.
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Motorsport competitors would be familiar with this from the CAMS regulations. As an example, the 2023 Motorsport Australia Manual appears to have just four rules for Formula Libre at speed events (hillclimbs and supersprints). But it starts with a definition which says they're "A single-seater racing car of free design, complying with the Technical Appendix and the Circuit Race Appendix, 1st Category - Racing Cars...".
The Circuit Race Appendix shows they're now called Free Formula (I suppose the word libre meaning freedom in French and Spanish must be too obscure for most), and the first section for them includes a bit which says they must comply "with general requirements of 1st Category - Racing Cars...".
So you look that up and the first section says they apply "In addition to the requirements of Schedules A, B and C (refer "General Requirements for Cars and Drivers" in the Motorsport Australia Manual)." And these each refer you to items in Schedules D through to N for details like fuel, wheels and tyres, safety cage structures, and so on.
It's complicated but necessary. Having the general and safety rules which apply to all vehicles in the one place makes it less complicated for event officials.
Figuring out the rules is similar for road cars, especially once you start looking into modifying them. Most states and territories will refer you to the Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14 (VSB 14) from the National Code of Practice for Light Vehicle Construction and Modification (NCOP) for various details.
VSB 14 says that for emissions, you need to "...refer to Codes LT3 and LT4 in Section LT Test Procedures." LT3 then says you are required to comply with ADR 37/00 or later.
The copies of ADR 37 and its revisions that I can find say that the actual tailpipe emission limits for light passenger vehicles only apply for the "useful life" of the vehicle. You go to the definitions sections and that useful life is just five years or 80,000 to 100,000km, whichever comes first.
ADR 79 (and its revisions) took over in October 2006. ADR 79/04 (applicable to vehicles with a "date of manufacture on or after 1 November 2016"), makes mention of entire life and useful life in Volume 2, without clearly specifying what those timespans are.
Now I'm not aware of this being tested in court, and I'm not a lawyer so seek your own advice, but so far as I can tell pre-2006 cars have already exceeded their useful life so the rules would have to be amended in order to legally enforce emissions tests on them (the way it's written, it seems to me that they're just meant to retain all the engine's emissions controls in order to pass; their effectiveness no longer determines compliance).
November 2006-onwards though, maybe they should already be subject to periodical emissions tests (whether the vehicle is modified or not), and it just isn't being enforced.
This is not unprecedented. California has been testing older vehicles for decades to reduce the smog build-up in their cities, and the researchers have a point when it comes to air quality and the number of health issues and shortened lifespans that tailpipe emissions cause in densely-populated regions.
There would be interesting consequences though. Among the good things would be car drivers becoming far more conscious of what they're doing to the air quality around them, particularly in cities.
Among the bad would be adding a reason to get rid of older vehicles earlier which puts more pressure on making new vehicles (and subsequently releasing many tonnes of emissions per vehicle for recycling, mining, manufacture and distribution). Adding to the cost of vehicle ownership would also make life even harder for those at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, since most of the developed world has been doing their urban planning around cars since the late 1940s.
