The Motor Vehicles (Type Approval) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2007

General interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the Construction and Use Regulations” means the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999(1);

“appropriate information document”—

(a)

in relation to a vehicle subject to type approval requirements and in respect of which an application for a type approval certificate is made, means a document in the form set out in Part I of Schedule 5;

(b)

in relation to a vehicle subject to type approval requirements and in respect of which an application for a Department’s approval certificate is made, means a document in the form set out in Part II of Schedule 5; and

(c)

in relation to a vehicle part subject to type approval requirements means a document in the form set out in Part III of Schedule 5;

“dual-purpose vehicle” means a vehicle constructed or adapted for the carriage both of passengers and of goods being a vehicle of which the unladen weight does not exceed 2040 kilograms, and which satisfies the following conditions as to construction, namely:—

(a)

the vehicle must be permanently fitted with a rigid roof, with or without a sliding panel;

(b)

the area of the vehicle to the rear of the driver’s seat must—

(i)

be permanently fitted with at least one row of transverse seats (fixed or folding) for two or more passengers and those seats must be properly sprung or cushioned and provided with upholstered back-rests, attached either to the seats or to a side or the floor of the vehicle, and

(ii)

be lit on each side and at the rear by a window or windows of glass or other transparent material having an area or aggregate area of not less than 1850 square centimetres on each side and not less than 770 square centimetres at the rear; and

(c)

the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the back-rests of the row of transverse seats satisfying the requirements specified in sub-paragraph (b)(i) or, if there is more than one such row of seats, the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the back-rests of the rearmost such row must, when the seats are ready for use, be not less than one-third of the distance between the rearmost part of the steering wheel and the rearmost part of the floor of the vehicle;

“ECE Regulation” means a Regulation annexed to the Agreement concerning the adoption of uniform conditions of approval for motor vehicle equipment and parts and reciprocal recognition thereof concluded at Geneva on 2nd March 1958(2) as amended(3) to which the United Kingdom is a party(4);

“EEA Agreement” means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on the 2nd May 1992 as adjusted by the protocol signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993;

“EEA State” means a State which is a contracting party to the EEA Agreement;

“emissions or noise item” means an item in Part I of Schedule 1 in respect of which the subject matter specified in column (2) of that Part is “exhaust emissions” or “noise and silencers”;

“Framework Directive vehicle” means a vehicle to which these Regulations apply and is a “vehicle” within the meaning of Council Directive 70/156/EEC(5) as amended by Council Directive 87/403/EEC(6), Council Directive 92/53/EEC(7) and Commission Directive 93/81(8);

“hire agreement” means an agreement for the bailment of a vehicle which is not a hire-purchase agreement;

“hire-purchase agreement” has the same meaning as in Part VI of the Hire-Purchase Act (Northern Ireland) 1966(9);

“maximum gross weight” means, in relation to a vehicle, the weight which it is designed or adapted not to exceed when in normal use and travelling on a road laden;

“motor ambulance” means a motor vehicle which is specially designed and constructed (and not merely adapted) for carrying, as equipment permanently fixed to the vehicle, equipment used for medical, dental or other health purposes and is used primarily for the carriage of persons suffering from illness, injury or disability;

“motor caravan” means a motor vehicle which is constructed or adapted for the carriage of passengers and their effects and which contains, as permanently installed equipment, the facilities which are reasonably necessary for enabling the vehicle to provide mobile living accommodation for its users;

“the Order” means the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981;

“the prescribed fee” in relation to any matter provided for in these Regulations, means the fee prescribed for such matter in the Motor Vehicles (Type Approval and Approval Marks) (Fees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1992(10);

“the prescribed type approval requirements” in relation to a vehicle or a vehicle part subject to type approval requirements, means the type approval requirements prescribed therefor by regulation 7;

“registered” means registered under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994(11);

“regular armed forces of the Crown” has the meaning assigned to it in section 1 of the Northern Ireland Assembly Disqualification Act 1975(12);

“the type approval requirements” means the requirements with respect to the design, construction, equipment or marking of vehicles or vehicle parts which—

(a)

relate to the items numbered in column (1) and listed in column (2) of Part I of Schedule 1; and

(b)

are contained in Regulations, other documents, or Parts of that Schedule, and consist of the requirements specified against each such item in column (3) of Part I of that Schedule (subject to such modifications and additions as are set out in Part I of that Schedule); and

“vehicle subject to type approval requirements” and “vehicle part subject to type approval requirements” have the meanings given to those expressions in regulation 7(9).

(2) For the purposes of these Regulations—

(a) a motor vehicle is to be regarded as being manufactured on or after a particular date if it is first assembled on or after that date, even if it includes one or more parts which were manufactured before that date; and

(b) the provisions of regulation 2(4) of the Construction and Use Regulations shall apply for determining when a motor vehicle is first used.

(1)

S.R. 1999 No. 454 as amended by S.R. 2001 Nos. 28, 173 and 241; S.R. 2002 Nos. 256, 294 and 375; S.R. 2003 Nos. 39, 145, 517 and 537; S.R. 2004 Nos. 44, 48, 67 and 360; S.R. 2005 Nos. 22, 249 and 402; and S.R. 2006 Nos. 32 and 246

(2)

Cmnd. 2535

(3)

Cmnd. 3562

(4)

By an instrument of accession dated 14th January 1963 deposited with the Secretary General of the United Nations on 15th January 1963

(5)

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

(6)

O.J. No. L220, 8.8.87, p. 44

(7)

O.J. No. L225, 19.8.92, p. 1

(8)

O.J. No. L264, 23.10.93, p. 49

(9)

1966 c. 42 (N.I.); Part VI was substituted by paragraph 49 of Schedule 4 to 1974 c. 39

(10)

S.R. 1992 No. 227

(11)

1994 c. 22

(12)

1975 c. 25