Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

2000 No. 331

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES

ROAD TRAFFIC AND VEHICLES

Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

Made

31st October 2000

Coming into operation

14th December 2000

The Department of the Environment, being a Department designated(1) for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972(2) in relation to compulsory insurance in respect of, and other means of providing for, civil liability in relation to motor vehicles and trailers, in exercise of the powers conferred by that section, and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 and shall come into operation on 14th December 2000.

Interpretation

2.  The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(3) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Amendment to the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 in respect of motor insurance requirements

3.—(1) The Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981(4) shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (6).

(2) In Article 90(1)(5) (users of motor vehicles to be insured or secured against third-party risks), after “road” there shall be inserted “or other public place”.

(3) In Article 92(1)(b)(6) (requirements in respect of policies), after “road” there shall be inserted “or other public place”.

(4) In Article 93(1) (requirements in respect of securities), after “road” there shall be inserted “or other public place”.

(5) In Article 99(1)(a)(7) (liability of insurers, etc., for expenses of hospital treatment), after “road” there shall be inserted “or other public place”.

(6) In Article 180(2)(b)(8) (enforcement powers of a constable), after “road” there shall be inserted “or other public place”.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of the Environment on 31st October 2000.

L.S.

Sam Foster

Minister of the Environment

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

Council Directive 72/166/EEC (O.J. No. L103, 2.5.72, p. 2), as modified by Council Directives 84/5/EEC (O.J. No. L8, 11.1.84, p. 17) and 90/232/EEC (O.J. No. L129, 19.5.90, p. 33) requires a Member State to take all appropriate measures to ensure that civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles normally based in its territory is covered by insurance.

Under Article 90 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (“the 1981 Order”) it is an offence to use, or to cause or permit someone to use, a motor vehicle on a road unless its use is covered by an appropriate policy of insurance or security (“the insurance requirement”). “Road” is defined in Article 2(2) of the 1981 Order, as including a public road and any street, carriageway, highway or roadway to which the public has access.

For the purpose of complying with the directives these Regulations amend the 1981 Order by extending the insurance requirements to the use of vehicles in public places other than roads and by making provision for the production of insurance document etc. where an accident occurs in a public place.

(1)

By the European Communities (Designation) Order 1972 (S.I. 1972/1811)

(2)

1972 c. 68; by virtue of section 1 of the European Economic Area Act 1993 (c. 51), section 1(2) of that Act is amended to enable regulations to be made under section 2(2) to implement obligations of the United Kingdom arising under the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 (Cm 2073) and a Protocol adjusting the Agreement signed at Brussels on 17th May 1994 (Cm 2183)

(3)

1954 c. 33 (N.I.)

(4)

S.I. 1981 No. 154 (N.I. 1)

(5)

Article 90 was amended by S.I. 1984/1986 (N.I. 15), Article 7(2), S.I. 1991/194 (N.I. 1), Article 7(2) and Schedule 2 Part I, and S.R. 1994 No. 18, regulation 2

(6)

Article 92 was amended by S.R. 1989 No. 84, regulation 3, and S.R. 1993 No. 57, regulation 3

(7)

Article 99(1) was amended by S.I. 1991/194 (N.I. 1), Schedule 5, Part II and varied by S.R. 1995 No. 139

(8)

A relevant amendment was made by S.I. 1995/2294 (N.I. 18), Article 112(1) and Schedule 3, Part I, paragraph 18