Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Designation of Relevant External Law) Order (Northern Ireland) 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order.)

With effect from 1st January 1997, the Driving Licences (Community Driving Licence) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1996 amended Article 5 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 so that a licence under Part II of that Order may not be granted to a person who has passed a driving test under the law applicable in the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands. Licences granted in any of those islands authorising the driving of classes of goods or passenger-carrying vehicle continue to be exchangeable for corresponding licences in Northern Ireland if the relevant law makes satisfactory provision for the grant of those licences.

This Order revokes earlier Orders, which applied to both driving tests and licences, and re-enacts the designation of the laws of the Isle of Man and Jersey as making satisfactory provision for granting all classes of goods and passenger-carrying vehicle licence.

The Order also designates for the first time the law of Guernsey as one which makes satisfactory provision for the granting of licences to drive such vehicles.