EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
These Regulations revoke and replace the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/1038) solely for the purpose of correcting a drafting error in the preamble to that instrument. S.I. 2008/1038 failed to refer to sections 99(7ZA) and 105(2) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 in the recitals of the enabling provisions and that omission is corrected by this instrument.
Otherwise these Regulations make the same amendments to the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999 (S.I. 1999/2864) (“the Principal Regulations”) as were made by S.I. 2008/1038. These are set out below.
Section 99(2A) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 requires a driving licence which is in the form of a photocard driving licence to be surrendered for renewal no later than ten years after the date on which it was issued (or, where relevant, the date on which the earliest licence bearing the same photograph was issued). Section 99(7ZA) of the 1988 Act (as inserted by the Road Safety Act 2006, section 40) provides that the Secretary of State is not required to grant a new photocard licence in those circumstances unless the licence holder pays the fee (if any) which is prescribed.
These Regulations amend Part 1 of Schedule 3 (licence fees) to the Principal Regulations with effect from 16th May 2008 by prescribing a fee of £17.50 in respect of the renewal of a photocard driving licence which has been surrendered in pursuance of section 99(2A) of the 1988 Act.
The fee has been set further to the Department for Transport (Driver Licensing and Vehicle Registration Fees) Order 2003 (S.I 2003/2994) (as amended by S.I. 2008/908), which established a common pool for costs incurred in respect of various vehicle registration functions and various driver licensing functions of the Secretary of State. In accordance with the terms of the 2003 Order, in setting the level of this fee the Secretary of State has taken into account the costs within those common pools.
A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument. However, a full impact assessment of the effect that this amendment and other related amendments will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector was produced for the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/508) and is available from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, Policy and External Communications Directorate, Longview Road, Swansea, SA6 7JL and on the DVLA’s website at www.dvla.gov.uk. That impact assessment is annexed to the explanatory memorandum relating to S.I. 2008/508, which is available alongside that instrument on the Office of Public Sector Information website at www.opsi.gov.uk.