27.—(1) A person requiring an individual approval of a relevant vehicle must—
(a)be a qualifying applicant, and
(b)make an application to the approval authority.
(2) An application under paragraph (1) must be in a form specified by the approval authority which—
(a)has been completed so as to provide all the information reasonably required by the authority in relation to the vehicle for which the application is made, and
(b)is accompanied by the documents mentioned in the form as being so required,
but the approval authority may waive all or any of these requirements in the case of a reapplication made not later than 6 months after an earlier refusal to grant an individual approval certificate for the vehicle.
(3) This paragraph applies where the vehicle for which an application under paragraph (1) is made is covered by a non-UK approval.
(4) Where paragraph (3) applies, the application must be accompanied by—
(a)a copy of the non-UK approval, and
(b)a copy of the attachments to the certificate of type approval (if applicable),
and, in the case of a vehicle which has the benefit of an individual approval granted pursuant to Article 24 of the Framework Directive (individual approvals), must include a statement from the member State which granted it of the technical provisions against which the vehicle was approved.
(5) The approval authority may, if reasonably necessary and after payment of any prescribed fee, carry out an examination of the vehicle and in that event must, as soon as reasonably practicable after receiving the application, give to the applicant notice of—
(a)the place at which the examination of the vehicle is to be carried out, and
(b)the date and time at which the examination is to begin.
(6) Where the approval authority gives notice to an applicant under paragraph (5) that an examination of a vehicle is to be carried out—
(a)the applicant must attend with the vehicle, or arrange for the vehicle to be produced, at the time and place specified in the notice unless otherwise agreed with the approval authority, and
(b)the approval authority may decline to proceed with the examination at that time and place if it is considered unsafe or otherwise unreasonable to do so.
(7) The approval authority must make the decision whether or not to grant an individual approval in accordance with Article 24 of the Framework Directive and give notice to the applicant accordingly.
(8) For the purposes of paragraph (7)—
(a)the alternative requirements required to be imposed under Article 24(1) are the technical or other requirements specified in Schedule 5;
(b)where paragraph (3) applies the approval authority must grant an individual approval unless there are reasonable grounds to believe that the technical provisions under which the non-UK approval covering the vehicle was granted are not equivalent to those applying in the United Kingdom.
(9) For the purposes of paragraph (8)(b), the approval authority has reasonable grounds to believe that the technical provisions under which an approval was granted are not equivalent to those applying in the United Kingdom if (but not only if) the authority is not satisfied that the vehicle for which the application is made—
(a)is constructed or adapted for use in left-hand traffic, and
(b)uses imperial units of measurement for the speedometer.
(10) Where the approval authority decides to grant an individual approval the authority must issue a certificate which complies with regulation 28(2).
(11) In this regulation—
“non-UK approval” means—
type approval granted, pursuant to Article 23 of the Framework Directive, under the law of a member State other than the United Kingdom,
an EC certificate of conformity issued in respect of a type approval (whether granted under the law of a member State or the United Kingdom) showing that the vehicle was not constructed or adapted for use in left-hand traffic or that it does not use imperial units of measurement for the speedometer, or
an individual approval granted, pursuant to Article 24 of the Framework Directive, under the law of a member State other than the United Kingdom.
“qualifying applicant” means—
the manufacturer of the vehicle,
the owner of the vehicle, or
a person established in a member State who is acting on behalf of the manufacturer or owner.