Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

PART IPRELIMINARY

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003 and shall come into operation on 30th April 2003.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations–

“the 1970 Directive” means Council Directive 70/156/EEC of 6th February 1970 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the type approval of motor vehicles and their trailers(1), as last amended by Commission Directive 2001/92/EC of 30th October 2001(2);

“the 1995 Regulations” means the Public Service Vehicles (Conditions of Fitness, Equipment and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1995(3);

“accessibility certificate” means a certificate issued by a vehicle examiner in accordance with Part III;

“bus” means a public service vehicle designed and constructed for the carriage of both seated and standing passengers which is of category M₂ or M₃ (as defined in Annex II(A) to the 1970 Directive) and has a capacity exceeding 22 passengers, in addition to the driver;

“coach” means a public service vehicle designed and constructed for the carriage of seated passengers only which is of category M₂ or M₃ (as defined in Annex II(A) to the 1970 Directive) and has a capacity exceeding 22 passengers, in addition to the driver;

“conformity certificate” means a certificate issued by a vehicle examiner in accordance with Part VI;

“declaration of conformity” means a declaration made by an authorised person in accordance with Part V;

“Department” means the Department of the Environment;

“double-deck”, in relation to a bus or coach, means that the spaces provided for the passengers are arranged (at least in one part) on two superimposed levels and that space for standing passengers is not provided on the upper deck;

“EEA State” means a State which is a contracting party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the Protocol signed in Brussels on 17th March 1993(4);

“motor vehicle” has the same meaning as in Annex II(A) to the 1970 Directive;

“regulated public service vehicle” means any public service vehicle to which these Regulations apply in accordance with regulation 3(1);

“scheduled service” means a service, using one or more public service vehicles, for the carriage of passengers at separate fares–

(a)

along specified routes;

(b)

at specified times; and

(c)

with passengers being taken up and set down at pre-determined stopping points,

but does not include a tour service;

“seated passengers” means the number of seated passengers that a vehicle may carry in accordance with regulation 61 of the 1995 Regulations;

“standing passengers” means the number of standing passengers that a vehicle may carry in accordance with regulation 62 of the 1995 Regulations(5);

“tour service” means a service where a public service vehicle is used for or in conjunction with the carriage of passengers to a particular location, or particular locations, and back to their point of departure;

“type vehicle approval” means an approval given by the Department in accordance with Part IV;

“weight” means design weight as defined in regulation 2(1) of the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999(6) and the words “weighs” and “weighing” shall be construed accordingly;

And other expressions used in Schedules 1 to 3 have the meanings given to them respectively in paragraph 1 of those Schedules.

(2) For the purpose of these Regulations, the date on which a regulated public service vehicle is “first used” shall be taken to be such date as is the earlier of the relevant dates mentioned below applicable to that vehicle, that is to say–

(a)in the case of a vehicle registered under the Roads Act 1920(7), the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1949(8), the Vehicles (Excise) Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(9), the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1962(10), the Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971(11), the Vehicles (Excise) Act (Northern Ireland) 1972(12) or the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994(13), the relevant date is the date on which it was first so registered; and

(b)in each of the following cases:

(i)a vehicle which is being or has been used under a trade licence within the meaning of section 11(1) of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 (otherwise than for the purposes of demonstration or testing or of being delivered from premises of the manufacturer by whom it was made, or of a distributor of vehicles or dealer in vehicles, to premises of a distributor of vehicles, dealer in vehicles or purchaser thereof or to premises of a person obtaining possession thereof under a hiring agreement or hire purchase agreement),

(ii)a vehicle belonging, or which has belonged, to the Crown which is or was used or appropriated for use for naval, military or air force purposes,

(iii)a vehicle belonging, or which has belonged, to a visiting force or a headquarters or defence organisation to which (in each case) the Visiting Forces and International Headquarters (Application of Law) Order 1965(14) applies,

(iv)a vehicle which has been used on roads outside Northern Ireland and which has been imported into Northern Ireland, and

(v)a vehicle which has been used otherwise than on roads after being sold or supplied by retail and before being registered;

the relevant date is the date of manufacture of the vehicle.

In case (v) above, “sold or supplied by retail” means sold or supplied otherwise than to a person acquiring the vehicle solely for the purpose of resale or re-supply for valuable consideration.

(3) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(15) shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

(1)

O.J. No. L42, 23.2.70, p. 1

(2)

O.J. No. L291, 8.11.01, p. 24

(3)

S.R. 1995 No. 447; relevant amending Regulations are S.R. 1997 No. 308

(4)

Cmnd. 2847

(5)

Regulation 62 was amended by S.R. 1997 No. 308, regulation 2(7)

(6)