Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment No. 4) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations further amend the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1989 (“the 1989 Regulations”).

Regulation 56 of the 1989 Regulations, which contains requirements concerning exhaust systems, is amended so as to allow certain vehicles to comply with Directive 92/97/EEC or ECE Regulation 51.02 and certain other vehicles to comply with Directive 87/56/EEC or 89/235/EEC, instead of regulation 56(1).

Subject to exceptions, regulation 57 of the 1989 Regulations requires vehicles with at least 3 wheels to be so constructed that they meet specified noise limits and their silencers meet specified requirements. The regulation is amended so that (except as described below) it does not apply to vehicles first used on or after 28th June 1999. The regulation is also amended so that vehicles first used before 28th June 1999 have the option of complying with the new regulation 57A which is inserted by these Regulations.

Subject to exceptions, regulation 57A requires vehicles first used on or after 28th June 1999 to be so constructed as to meet the noise limitation requirements specified in Council Directive 70/157/EEC as amended by Council Directive 92/97/EEC or as amended by Commission Directive 96/20/EC. Certain vehicles first used on or after 28th June 1999 have the option of complying with this regulation or with regulation 57. The amendments exempt a vehicle from the new and existing requirements of these regulations if it is officially approved under Directive 92/97/EEC, 96/20/EC or ECE Regulation 51.02.

Regulation 62(1) requires certain vehicles to comply at the time of first use with Council Directive 72/245/EEC (on the suppression of radio interference produced by spark ignition engines fitted to motor vehicles), with that Directive as amended by Commission Directive 89/491/EEC or with ECE Regulation 10 or 10.01. Regulation 62 is amended so that paragraph (1) will not apply to a vehicle first used on or after 1st January 1996 unless it falls within the definition of “vehicle” in Council Directive 70/156/EEC on the type approval of motor vehicles and their trailers (as amended) or is an agricultural motor vehicle. Paragraph (1) is amended so that vehicles to which the paragraph applies have the option of complying at the time of first use with Council Directive 72/245/EEC as further amended by Commission Directive 95/54/EC instead of with existing requirements. Regulation 5 of the 1989 Regulations sets out the circumstances when a vehicle is to be regarded as complying with aDirective at the time of first use.

These Regulations also insert a new paragraph (1C) in regulation 62, which has effect as from 1st October 2002 and applies (with exceptions) to vehicles for which EC certificates of conformity have been issued. It makes it unlawful for a vehicle to which the paragraph applies to be fitted with any electrical/electronic sub-assembly that was not fitted to the vehicle when the certificate was issued unless the sub-assembly is marked in accordance with Directive 72/245/EEC as amended by Commission Directive 95/54/EC.

Regulations 57A and 63 are modified by a new Schedule 6XA, inserted by these Regulations, in relation to “end of series vehicles” and “late entry into service vehicles” as defined by that Schedule.

Copies of the relevant Directives and ECE Regulations referred to in these Regulations and in this note can be obtained from The Stationery Office Bookshop, 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD.