Motor Vehicles (Approval) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

New regulation 3A (application of Regulations)

3.  After regulation 3 of the principal Regulations there shall be inserted –

“3A.— (1) Subject to paragraph (3), these Regulations apply to –

(a) every motor vehicle manufactured on or after 31st March 2004 and which –

(i) either has a design gross weight not exceeding 3,500 kg or complies with the requirements specified in paragraph (2),

(ii) has three or more wheels, and

(iii) is either a goods vehicle, the tractive unit of an articulated vehicle (as defined in regulation 2(1) of the Construction and Use Regulations) or a bi-purpose vehicle; and

(b) parts of any such vehicles.

(2) The requirements referred to in paragraph (1)(a)(i) are that the vehicle in question –

(a) has a design gross weight exceeding 3,500 kg but not exceeding 5,500 kg;

(b) has a kerbside weight not exceeding 3,425 kg; and

(c) belongs to the same family of types as at least one vehicle to which these Regulations apply by virtue of paragraph (1)(a) and which has been granted a Department’s approval certificate on the basis that it complies with the approval requirements by virtue of these Regulations.

(3) These Regulations do not apply to, or to the parts of, any of the following vehicles, that is to say –

(a) a vehicle brought temporarily into Northern Ireland and which –

(i) displays a registration mark mentioned in regulation 2(1) of the Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) (Registration and Licensing) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1963(1), and

(ii) complies in every respect with the requirements relating to motor vehicles contained in –

(A) Article 21 and paragraph (1) of Article 22 of the Convention on Road Traffic concluded at Geneva on 19th September 1949(2), and Part I, Part II (so far as it relates to direction indicators and stop lights) and Part III of Annex 6 to that Convention; or

(B) paragraphs I, III and VIII of Article 3 of the International Convention relative to Motor Traffic concluded at Paris on 24th April 1926(3);

(b) a vehicle which is to be exported from Northern Ireland and which either –

(i) has not been used on a road in Northern Ireland for any purpose except that of proceeding from the place where it was manufactured to the place from which it is to be taken out of Northern Ireland, or

(ii) satisfies the criteria of being zero-rated under regulation 132 or 133 of the Value Added Tax (General) Regulations 1995(4);

(c) a vehicle in the service of a visiting force or of a headquarters (as defined in Article 8(6) of the Visiting Forces and International Headquarters (Application of Law) Order 1965(5));

(d) a vehicle to which Articles 65 to 69 of the 1995 Order have become applicable after a period of use on roads during which, by virtue of Article 108(2) of that Order (which relates to vehicles in the public service of the Crown), those Articles did not apply to that vehicle;

(e) a motor vehicle which is of a new or improved type, or is fitted with equipment of a new or improved type, and which has been constructed to that type or fitted with that equipment, for the purpose of tests or trials or for use as a prototype, and –

(i) is not intended for general use on roads, and

(ii) in the case of a vehicle first used on a road on or after 31st March 2004, remains in the ownership and use of –

(A) if the vehicle is of a new or improved type the manufacturer of the vehicle, or

(B) if the vehicle is fitted with equipment of a new or improved type the manufacturer of the equipment or the manufacturer of the vehicle on which that equipment is used;

(f) a motor vehicle which is of a new or improved type provided that the conditions specified in paragraph (4) are satisfied;

(g) a light locomotive, a heavy locomotive and a motor tractor (all as defined in Article 3(1) of the 1995 Order);

(h) an agricultural motor vehicle, engineering plant, a pedestrian-controlled vehicle, a straddle carrier, a works truck and a vehicle which is track-laying (all as defined in regulation 2(1) of the Construction and Use Regulations);

(i) a vehicle the use of which on a road is authorised by Article 15, 17 or 19 of the Motor Vehicles (Authorisation of Special Types) Order 1997(6);

(j) a tower wagon as defined in paragraph 6(a) of Schedule 2 to the Testing Regulations;

(k) a fire engine (including an air field crash tender);

(l) a road roller;

(m) a vehicle propelled by steam;

(n) a vehicle constructed for the purpose of preventing or reducing the effect of snow or ice on roads, either by spreading grit or other material, by scooping or sweeping, or by other means;

(o) a two-wheeled motor cycle, with or without a sidecar;

(p) an electrically-propelled vehicle;

(q) a break-down vehicle (as defined in regulation 2(1) of the Testing Regulations);

(r) an ambulance;

(s) a motor caravan; or

(t) a recovery vehicle first used before 1st January 1988.

(4) The conditions referred to in paragraph (3)(f) are that the vehicle –

(a) was at the date of manufacture owned by the manufacturer of the vehicle and has remained in his ownership;

(b) has not been offered for sale by him;

(c) has not been let or offered for letting under a hire agreement or a hire-purchase agreement; and

(d) has not been used on a road for any purpose other than for, or in connection with, publicity, demonstration or evaluation of vehicles of the new or improved type.”.

(1)

S.R. & O. (N.I.) 1963 No. 79 as amended by S.R. & O. (N.I.) 1969 No. 172

(2)

Cmnd. 7997

(3)

Treaty Series, No. 11 (1930)

(4)

S.I. 1995/2518, relevant amending Regulations are S.I. 2000/258

(5)

S.I. 1965/1536

(6)

S.R. 1997 No. 109