The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Statutory Instruments

2020 No. 1276

Road Traffic

The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Made

12th November 2020

Laid before Parliament

16th November 2020

Coming into force

8th December 2020

The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 57(1) to (3) of the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994(1).

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 and come into force on 8th December 2020.

Amendment of the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001

2.  The Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001(2) are amended as follows.

3.  In regulation 2 (interpretation: general), in the definition of the expression “registration plate” replace “16(3) and (4)” with “16(3), (4), (4A), (4B) and (4D)”.

4.  In regulation 16—

(a) after paragraph (4) insert—

“(4A) Subject to paragraph (4B), an eligible vehicle may display a plate or device which is green in colour.

(4B) The plate or other device referred to in paragraph (4A) must be—

(a) made from retroreflective material;

(b) colour Pantone 7481c(3) or a colour match that is as close as possible to this colour;

(c) no less than forty millimetres and no more than fifty millimetres in width.

(4C) No other vehicle may display a plate or other device which is green in colour.

(4D) Subject to paragraphs (5) to (8) there may be displayed on a plate or other device referred to in (4A) an arrangement of letters corresponding with one of the sub-paragraphs of paragraph (9) and an emblem corresponding with one of the sub-paragraphs of paragraph (10).”;

(b) in paragraph (5) after “The” insert “plate or other device, ” and after “(4)” insert “, (4A), (4B) and (4D)”;

(c) after paragraph (10) insert—

“(11) In this regulation—

(a) an “eligible vehicle” means a vehicle to which these regulations apply and which cannot produce any tailpipe emissions;

(b) where the eligible vehicle is towing a trailer, paragraphs (4A), (4B), and (4D) may also apply to the plate or other device fixed to that trailer.”.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport

Rachel Maclean

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Transport

12th November 2020

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Road Vehicles (Display of Registration Marks) Regulations 2001. Regulation 3 amends regulation 16, to introduce the legal requirements for the option for an eligible vehicle and trailer, being towed by an eligible vehicle, to display a green coloured plate or other device positioned to the left-hand side of the registration plate, to identify the vehicle as a zero-tailpipe emissions vehicle, with or without an optional emblem and arrangement of letters set out in regulation 16(9) and (10).

A draft copy of these Regulations was notified to the EU Commission for the purposes of the Technical Standards and Regulations Directive (2015/1535/EU; OJ L 241, 17.9.2015, p.1).

An impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private or voluntary sector is foreseen.

An Explanatory Memorandum for this instrument has been published alongside these Regulations on the UK legislation website at www.legislation.gov.uk.

(1)

1994 c.22; section 57(1) was amended by the Finance Act 1996 (c.8) Schedule 2, paragraph 16.

(2)

S.I. 2001/561; there are other amending instruments but none is relevant.

(3)

Further information and a guide to the colour match for Pantone 7481c can be found on the Pantone website at https://store.pantone.com/uk/en/colorfinder/index/acfproduct/code/7481+C.