The Goods Vehicles (International Road Transport Permits and Haulage Within the EU) Regulations 2024

PART 1 Preliminary provisions

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations—

(a) may be cited as the Goods Vehicles (International Road Transport Permits and Haulage Within the EU) Regulations 2024, and

(b) come into force on the 21st day after the day on which they are made.

Extent

2.  These Regulations extend to England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Interpretation

3.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the 2018 Act” means the Haulage Permits and Trailer Registration Act 2018(1);

“agreement” means a relevant international agreement(2);

“application” means an application under regulation 8;

“application fee” has the meaning given in regulation 7(1);

“carriage” includes haulage;

“ECMT agreements” means—

(a)

the Protocol concerning the European Conference of Ministers of Transport done at Brussels on 17th October 1953(3),

(b)

Resolution No. 26 concerning the Actual Coming into Force of a Multilateral Quota for International Transport of Goods by Road done at The Hague on 14th June 1973(4), and

(c)

Consolidated Resolution No. 2000/1 concerning the Rules to be Applied for International Freight Transport by Road done at Prague on 30th and 31st May 2000(5);

“ECMT annual permit” has the meaning given in regulation 5;

“ECMT country” means a listed country in relation to which the Protocol concerning the European Conference of Ministers of Transport done at Brussels on 17th October 1953 is an agreement;

“ECMT international removal permit” has the meaning given in regulation 5;

“ECMT short-term permit” has the meaning given in regulation 5;

“goods” means goods or burden of any description;

“grant fee” has the meaning given in regulation 7(2);

“laden” means laden with goods;

“listed country” means a country(6) listed in Schedule 1;

“multiple-use permit” has the meaning given in regulation 5;

“operator’s licence” means a licence—

(a)

issued to an operator(7) under—

(i)

the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995(8), or

(ii)

the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act (Northern Ireland) 2010(9), and

(b)

authorising the operator to use a goods vehicle(10) on a road for the carriage of goods to a country outside the United Kingdom;

“permit” means an international road transport permit(11);

“relevant contract” means—

(a)

a contract of service or apprenticeship, whether express or implied, and, if it is express, whether oral or in writing, or

(b)

any other contract, whether express or implied and, if it is express, whether oral or in writing, whereby an individual undertakes to do or perform personally any work or services for another party to the contract whose status is not by virtue of the contract that of a client or customer of any profession or business undertaking carried on by the individual;

“single-use permit” has the meaning given in regulation 5;

“traffic commissioner” means a commissioner appointed under section 4 of the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981(12);

“type of permit” means a type of permit described in regulation 5.

(2) In these Regulations, a goods vehicle is used on a commercial journey if any part of that journey is—

(a) for hire or reward, or

(b) for or in connection with any trade or business carried on by the operator of the vehicle.

(3) In these Regulations, the operator of a goods vehicle is using it for the carriage of goods if the journey is—

(a) a laden journey undertaken for the carriage of goods, or

(b) an unladen journey undertaken in conjunction with such a journey.

(1)

2018 c. 19 (“the 2018 Act”).

(2)

Section 1(4) of the 2018 Act provides that “relevant international agreement” means “(a) in relation to a country other than Ireland, an international agreement— (i) to which the United Kingdom is a party, and (ii) which relates to the transport of goods by road to, in or through the country; (b) in relation to Ireland, an international agreement— (i) to which the United Kingdom is a party, (ii) which the Secretary of State has certified as an agreement to which the Government of Ireland has consented, and (iii) which relates to the transport of goods by road to, in or through Ireland”.

(3)

Treaty Series No. 32 (1954); also known as the Protocol to co-ordinate and rationalise European Inland Transport of international importance. A copy is published at www.itf-oecd.org/lacquis-cemtprincipal-acts-ecmt-1953-2003.

(4)

CM(73)5, as continued by CM(73)24. A copy is published at www.itf-oecd.org/lacquis-cemtprincipal-acts-ecmt-1953-2003.

(5)

CM(2000)10. A copy is published online at www.itf-oecd.org/lacquis-cemtprincipal-acts-ecmt-1953-2003. The current position with regards to reservations to the categories of transport exempted from permit requirements can be found at page 15 of the ECMT multilateral quota user guide: https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/guide_2022_0.pdf. The user guide clarifies that it does not affect agreements between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

(6)

Section 10 of the 2018 Act provides that “country” includes “territory”.

(7)

Section 1(5) of the 2018 Act provides that “operator”, in relation to a goods vehicle, means “(a) the driver of the vehicle, if the vehicle belongs to the driver or is in the driver’s possession under an agreement for hire or hire-purchase, or a loan; (b) in any other case, the person whose employee or agent the driver is”.

(8)

1995 c. 23.

(9)

2010 c. 2 (N.I.).

(10)

Section 1(5) of the 2018 Act defines “goods vehicle” as “a motor vehicle registered under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 (c. 22) which (alone or in combination with one or more other vehicles drawn by it) is constructed or adapted to carry or to haul goods or burden of any description”.

(11)

Section 1(2) of the 2018 Act provides that “international road transport permit” means a permit granted by the Secretary of State for the purposes of regulations under section 1(1).

(12)

1981 c. 14. Section 4 was substituted by section 3(2) of the Transport Act 1985 (c. 67) and amended by section 2 of the Local Transport Act 2008 (c. 26).