Road Transport (Passenger Vehicles Cabotage) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2005

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations implement in Northern Ireland Council Regulation (EC) No. 12/98 of 11th December 1997 (“the EC Regulation”) which lays down the conditions under which road passenger transport carriers may operate cabotage transport operations.

The EC Regulation permits the operation of transport services for hire or reward in another Member State (i.e. cabotage), without having a registered office or being established in that State by operators who hold a Community licence issued under Council Regulation (EEC) 684/92 of 16th March 1992 (Article 1). The EC Regulation requires that the Community licence, or a certified copy, shall be carried on board the vehicle and produced when requested by an authorised inspecting officer (Article 5). These Regulations implement those requirements by making it a criminal offence to –

(a) carry out a cabotage transport operation without a Community licence (punishable with a maximum fine at level 4, currently £2,500) (regulation 2); and

(b) fail without reasonable cause to produce the Community licence or a certified copy (punishable with a maximum fine at level 3, currently £1,000) (regulation 6).

The EC Regulation requires that cabotage transport operations which are “occasional services” as defined in Article 2 of the EC Regulation shall be carried out under the cover of a control document which must be kept on board the vehicle and produced when requested by an authorised inspecting officer (Article 6). These Regulations implement those requirements by making it a criminal offence to –

(a) use the vehicle in contravention of the requirement (punishable with a maximum fine at level 4, currently £2,500) (regulation 3); and

(b) fail without reasonable cause to produce the control document (punishable with a maximum fine at level 3, currently £1,000) (regulation 6).

These Regulations provide that –

(a) the Department is the competent authority to communicate with the Commission in accordance with Articles 7 and 9 of the EC Regulation (regulation 4(1));

(b) the Department shall be the competent authority to impose an administrative penalty (regulation 4(1) and (2)), with a right of appeal to a county court (regulation 5).

The Regulations additionally provide for –

(a) police constables and examiners to be authorised inspecting officers (regulation 7);

(b) criminal offences in certain circumstances to be committed by a director, manager, secretary or similar officer of a body corporate (regulation 8).

The Regulations make consequential amendments to various enactments including amending the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 to provide power in certain cases for the driving of a foreign vehicle engaged in cabotage to be prohibited (regulation 9).

The Council Regulations referred to in these Regulations and in this Note may be obtained from The Stationery Office Bookshop, 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD.