The Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (No. 2) (Amendment) Regulations 1974

Statutory Instruments

1974 No. 791

ROAD TRAFFIC

The Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (No. 2) (Amendment) Regulations 1974

Made

3rd May 1974

Laid before Parliament

6th May 1974

Coming into Operation

27th May 1974

The Secretary of State for the Environment, being a Minister designated(1) for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972 in relation to compulsory insurance in respect of, and other means of providing for, civil liability in relation to motor vehicles and trailers, in the exercise of powers conferred by that section and, so far as concerns Regulation 6 of these Regulations, in the exercise of powers conferred by that section and section 157(e) of the Road Traffic Act 1972 and after consultation with representative organisations in accordance with the provisions of section 199 of the Act of 1972, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

1.  These Regulations shall come into operation on 27th May 1974 and may be cited as the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (No. 2) (Amendment) Regulations 1974.

2.  The Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (No. 2) Regulations 1973 (2) shall be amended so as to have effect in accordance with the following provisions of these Regulations.

3.  In Regulation 2(1) (interpretation), at the end there shall be added the words “and references to a relevant foreign state are references to Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland.”.

4.  In Regulation 6(1) (power to require production of the existence of insurance in certain cases), after the word “state”, where it first occurs, there shall be inserted the words “(other than a relevant foreign state)”.

5.  In Regulation 7(3)(c) (vehicle detained under Regulation 7 may be released if it is to be taken out of Great Britain to a place not in EEC territory), at the end there shall be added the words “and not in the territory of a relevant foreign state.”.

6.  In Regulation 8 (certain provisions of the Road Traffic Act 1972 relating to compulsory insurance not to apply in relation to insurance policies issued outside the United Kingdom in respect of certain vehicles), for the words “in the territory” onwards there shall be substituted the words “in the territory other than the United Kingdom and Gibraltar of a member State of the Communities or of a relevant foreign state.”.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State

Fred Mulley

Minister for Transport

Department of the Environment

3rd May 1974

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations amend the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (No. 2) Regulations 1973 (which make provision for the extension of compulsory motor vehicle insurance cover under Part VI of the Road Traffic Act 1972 to include liabilities arising out of the use of a motor vehicle or trailer which are compulsorily insurable in the territories of member states of the European Communities). The effect of the principal amendments is:—

(a) that vehicles normally based in any of the countries specified in Regulation 2 (which are not member states of the Communities) are exempted from the need to produce evidence of insurance when entering Great Britain (Regulation 4);

(b) that certain vehicles which, not having proper insurance on entering Great Britain, have been detained for that reason, may be released where the detaining authority is satisfied that the vehicle in question is to be taken out of Great Britain to a place not in one of the countries referred to above (Regulation 5); and

(c) that the requirements of the 1972 Act that insurance policies must be issued by authorised insurers and that they are of no effect unless certificates are issued shall not apply in respect of policies issued elsewhere than in the United Kingdom for vehicles normally based in any of the said countries (Regulation 6).

(1)

The European Communities (Designation) Order 1972. S.I.1972/1811 (1972 III. p. 5216).

(2)

(1973 III, p. 7402).