1.—(1) A person commits an offence if—
(a)that person supplies a recordable trailer,
(b)the trailer is supplied for use on a road, and
(c)none of the conditions specified in sub-paragraph (2) is met.
(2) The specified conditions are that—
(a)an EU certificate of conformity has effect with respect to the trailer;
(b)a national small series certificate of conformity has effect with respect to the trailer;
(c)an individual approval certificate has effect with respect to the trailer.
(3) A person commits an offence if, at a time when there is no relevant consent in effect with respect to a large trailer, that person—
(a)supplies that large trailer for use on a road,
(b)uses that large trailer on a road, or
(c)causes or permits that large trailer to be used on a road.
(4) A person commits an offence if that person contravenes any requirement in paragraph (1) or (3) of regulation 25.
(5) A person commits an offence if that person—
(a)contravenes any other prohibition in these Regulations, the Type Approval Regulation or the legislation listed in Schedule 5, or
(b)fails to comply with any requirement or obligation in these Regulations, the Type Approval Regulation or the legislation listed in Schedule 5.
(6) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under sub-paragraph (3)(b) or (c) to show that—
(a)the trailer is an incomplete vehicle, is not carrying goods and is being towed to a place where a further stage of manufacture is to take place,
(b)the trailer is to be exported and is being towed to a place from where it is to be taken out of the United Kingdom,
(c)the trailer is being used solely for the purpose of—
(i)submitting it (by previous arrangement at a specified time) for a statutory inspection or test, or
(ii)bringing it away from any such inspection or test, or
(d)the trailer is operated from a base in a country outside the United Kingdom and either—
(i)the trailer is registered in that country, or
(ii)it is shown that the trailer has its principal base there.
(7) It is a defence for a person charged with an offence under sub-paragraph (1) or (3)(a) to show that, at the time when the trailer was supplied, there was reasonable cause to believe that the trailer would not be used on a road otherwise than in circumstances specified in sub-paragraph (6)(a), (b), or (c).
(8) For the purposes of this paragraph, a trailer is a recordable trailer if it is a relevant vehicle other than—
(a)a trailer falling within regulation 25(2)(a) or (b), or
(b)a trailer to which the alternative conditions in Schedule 3 apply.
(9) In this paragraph—
“relevant consent” means consent given under regulation 23(3);
“relevant vehicle” has the meaning given in regulation 23(8);
“statutory inspection or test” means an inspection or test carried out under or pursuant to—
the Type Approval Regulation,
these Regulations,
the Goods Vehicles (Plating and Testing) Regulations 1988, or
the Goods Vehicles (Testing) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003.
2.—(1) If an offence under these Regulations committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to neglect on the part of, an officer of the body corporate, or a person purporting to act as an officer of the body corporate, that officer or person (as well as the body corporate) commits the offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(2) If the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, sub-paragraph (1) applies in relation to the acts and omissions of a member in connection with the member’s functions of management as it applies to an officer of the body corporate.
(3) If an offence under these Regulations is—
(a)committed by a Scottish partnership, and
(b)proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to neglect on the part of, a partner of the partnership,
the partner (as well as the partnership) commits the offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(4) In this paragraph “officer” in relation to a body corporate means a director, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate.