2011 No. 3065

Road Traffic

The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2011

Made

Laid before Parliament

Coming into force

The Secretary of State for Transport makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 41(1), (2) and (5) of the Road Traffic Act 19881 and by section 2(2)(b) of the European Communities Act 19722.

The Secretary of State for Transport is a Minister designated for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 Act3 for the regulation of the type, description, construction or equipment of vehicles, and of components of vehicles, and in particular any vehicle type approval scheme.

Representative organisations have been consulted in accordance with section 195(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

Citation and commencement1

These Regulations may be cited as the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2011 and come into force on 14th January 2012.

Revocation of the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 20112

The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 20114 are revoked.

Amendment of Regulations3

The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 19865 are amended as follows.

End-of-series exemption

4

1

For regulation 61C (“end-of-series exemption”), substitute—

End-of-series exemption61C

1

The requirements in articles 4 to 6 and 10 and Annex 1 of European Community Regulation 715/20076 shall—

a

in relation to complete end-of-series vehicles—

i

of category N1 class II and III, and

ii

of category N2 having a reference mass not exceeding 2,610 kilograms,

be deemed to be fulfilled for the period beginning with the relevant date and ceasing at the end of 31st December 2012;

b

in relation to end-of-series completed multi-stage build vehicles of category N1 class I, be deemed to be fulfilled for the period beginning with the relevant date and ceasing at the end of 30th June 2012;

c

in relation to end-of-series completed multi-stage build vehicles—

i

of category N1 class II and III, and

ii

of category N2 having a reference mass not exceeding 2,610 kilograms,

be deemed to be fulfilled for the period beginning with the relevant date and ceasing at the end of 30th June 2013.

2

The requirements in articles 4 to 6 and 8 and Annex I of European Community Regulation 595/20097 shall—

a

for category N2 end-of-series vehicles having a reference mass exceeding 2,610 kilograms, and

b

category N3 end-of-series vehicles,

be deemed to be fulfilled, in relation to complete vehicles, for the period beginning with the relevant date and ceasing at the end of 30th December 2014, or in the case of completed multi-stage build vehicles, beginning with the relevant date and ceasing at the end of 29th June 2015.

3

For the purpose of paragraphs (1) and (2), a vehicle is an end-of-series vehicle if—

a

three months or more before the relevant date, a certificate of conformity or a Minister’s approval certificate issued under section 58(4) of the 1988 Act was in force for the vehicle, and the Minister’s approval certificate issued under section 58(1) of that Act or type approval certificate (as the case may be) had been issued by virtue of an emissions requirement that—

i

then applied to the vehicle, but

ii

apart from this regulation, would have ceased to apply on the relevant date, and

b

it is in the territory of an EEA state on the relevant date.

4

In this regulation—

  • “category N1 class I” means a motor vehicle with at least 4 wheels designed or constructed for the carriage of goods and having a reference mass not exceeding 1,305 kilograms;

  • “category N1 class II” means a motor vehicle with at least 4 wheels designed or constructed for the carriage of goods and having a reference mass exceeding 1,305 kilograms but not exceeding 1,760 kilograms;

  • “category N1 class III” means a motor vehicle with at least 4 wheels designed or constructed for the carriage of goods and having a reference mass exceeding 1,760 kilograms;

  • “category N2” and “category N3” have the respective meanings given in Annex II to Directive 2007/46/EC8;

  • “complete vehicle” means any vehicle which need not be completed in order to meet the relevant technical requirements of Directive 2007/46/EC;

  • “completed multi-stage build vehicle” means a vehicle resulting from the process of multi-stage type-approval which meets the relevant technical requirements of Directive 2007/46/EC;

  • “reference mass” has the meaning given in Article 3(3) of European Community Regulation 715/2007;

  • “relevant date” means—

    1. i

      in relation to vehicles to which paragraph (1) applies, the date on which the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2011 come into force, and

    2. ii

      in relation to vehicles to which paragraph (2) applies, 31st December 2013.

5

After regulation 61C, insert—

Review of regulations 61 to 61B61D

1

The Secretary of State must from time to time—

a

carry out a review of regulations 61 to 61B, which relate to emissions,

b

set out the conclusions of the review in a report, and

c

publish the report.

2

In carrying out the review the Secretary of State must, so far as is reasonable, have regard to how, in so far as they make provision in relation to emissions—

a

the Framework Directive, and

which are implemented by means of various provisions in these Regulations and by the Road Vehicles (Approval) Regulations 200913, are implemented in other Member States.

3

The report must in particular—

a

set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the regulatory system established by these Regulations to the extent that they relate to emissions,

b

assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved, and

c

assess whether those objectives remain appropriate and, if so, the extent to which they could be achieved with a system that imposes less regulation.

4

The first report under this regulation must be published before the end of the period of five years beginning with 14th January 2012.

5

Reports under this regulation are afterwards to be published at intervals not exceeding five years.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport

Theresa VilliersMinister of StateDepartment for Transport
EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 (S.I. 1986/1078) (“the 1986 Regulations”) and revoke the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 (S.I.2011/427). The revoked instrument inserted regulation 61C into the 1986 Regulations and regulation 4 now substitutes an amended version of regulation 61C.

The original regulation 61C provided exemptions from the emissions requirements in EC Regulations 715/2007 (OJ No L 171, 29.6.2007, p.1) (“the 2007 Regulation”) and 595/2009 (OJ No L 188, 18.7.2009, p.1) (“the 2009 Regulation”) for certain end-of series vehicles. The effect of this instrument is to make these exemptions available to certain additional categories of light goods vehicles. The instrument does this by deeming those end-of-series vehicles to fulfil new EU emission standards for a finite period. The exemptions are permitted by article 27 of Directive 2007/46/EC (OJ No L 263, 9.10.2007, p.1) (commonly known as the “Framework Directive”) and have the effect of extending the time for compliance with those emissions requirements.

Regulation 4 substitutes a revised regulation 61C into the 1986 Regulations.

New regulation 61C(1) has the effect of providing end-of-series exemptions from various requirements of the 2007 Regulation. For complete vehicles of categories N1 class II and III, as well as N2 with a reference mass of up to 2,610 kg, the exemption will apply until 31st December 2012. This lighter category of N2 vehicles was previously erroneously omitted from the ambit of the 2007 Regulation and the earlier version of regulation 61C(1).

The new version of regulation 61C(1) also provides extended exemptions for completed multi-stage vehicles until 30th June 2012 for category N1 class I, and until 30th June 2013 for such vehicles of category N1 class II and III, as well as category N2 of less than 2,610 kg.

New regulation 61C(2) has the effect of providing for end-of-series exemptions from various requirements of the 2009 Regulation. For complete vehicles the exemptions in relation to category N2 vehicles with a mass of over 2,160 kg and for category N3 vehicles apply until 30th December 2014.

In relation to completed multi-stage build vehicles of both categories, new regulation 61C(2) also has the effect of providing an extended exemption until 29th June 2015.

New regulation 61C(3) substitutes a revised definition of “end-of-series vehicle”.

Regulation 5 inserts a requirement into the 1986 Regulations (new regulation 61D) for the Secretary of State to review the operation and effect of Regulations 61 to 61B (which relate to emissions), and publish a report within five years of 14th January 2012, and within every five years thereafter. Following each review, the Secretary of State will decide whether those provisions of the 1986 Regulations should remain as they are, or be revoked or amended. A further instrument would be needed to revoke or amend those provisions of the 1986 Regulations.

A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from the International Vehicle Standards 1 team at the Department for Transport, 33 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 4DR and is also published with the Explanatory Memorandum alongside the instrument on www.legislation.gov.uk.