
1 

(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Public Service Vehicles (Community Licences) Regulations 1999 and shall come into force for the purposes of regulations 2, 4 to 6 and 9 to 12 on 1st June 1999, and for all other purposes on 11th June 1999.
(2) These Regulations shall not extend to Northern Ireland.
2 

(1) These Regulations implement Article 3a of the Council Regulation.
(2) In these Regulations–
 “the 1981 Act” means the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981;
 “the Council Regulation” means Council Regulation (EEC) No. 684/92 of 16 March 1992 on common rules for the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No. 11/98 of 11 December 1997;
 “international operations”, “national operations”, “operating centre”, “PSV operator’s licence”, “restricted licence”, “standard licence” and “traffic commissioner” have the meaning given to them by section 82(1) of the 1981 Act;
 “operator” has the meaning given by section 81 of the 1981 Act;
 “public service vehicle” has the meaning given by section 1 of the 1981 Act;
 “traffic area” means a traffic area constituted for the purposes of the 1981 Act;
 “Transport Tribunal” means the Transport Tribunal constituted as provided in Schedule 4 to the Transport Act 1985;
 and subject thereto, expressions used which are also used in the Council Regulation have the meaning which they bear in that Regulation.
3 
A person who uses a vehicle in Great Britain in contravention of Article 3a(1) of the Council Regulation shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
4 
The competent authority for the purposes of Article 3a of the Council Regulation and of these Regulations shall be, in relation to the operator of a public service vehicle who has an operating centre in a traffic area in Great Britain, the traffic commissioner for that area.
5 
A person shall be entitled to be issued by the competent authority with a Community licence under Article 3a(2) of the Council Regulation if he holds a standard licence which authorises use on both national and international operations, or a restricted licence.
6 
A person who–
(a) is aggrieved by the refusal of the competent authority to issue a Community licence to him, or
(b) being the holder of a Community licence, is aggrieved by the decision of the competent authority who issued it to withdraw it,may appeal to the Transport Tribunal.
7 
A person who uses a public service vehicle in Great Britain under a Community licence and, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any of the conditions governing the use of that licence under the Council Regulation, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
8 
Authorised inspecting officers for the purposes of the Council Regulation shall be examiners appointed under section 66A(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and police constables.
9 

(1) Where a Community licence is withdrawn by the competent authority in accordance with condition 5 of the model Community licence set out in the Annex to the Council Regulation, the holder of that licence shall within 7 days of such withdrawal return to the competent authority which issued it the original licence and all certified true copies of it.
(2) The holder of a Community licence shall return to the competent authority which issued it such certified true copies of the licence as the authority may require pursuant to—
(a) any decision of the authority to reduce the maximum number of vehicles (being vehicles having their operating centre in the area of that authority) which the holder is authorised, under section 16(1) of the 1981 Act, to use under the PSV operator’s licence held by him, or
(b) any decision of the authority under the condition 5 referred to in paragraph (1) to suspend or withdraw certified true copies of the Community licence.
(3) A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to comply with any provision of paragraph (1) or (2) shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
10 

(1) The holder of a Community licence shall furnish such information as the competent authority which issued it may reasonably require from time to time to enable the authority to decide whether the holder is entitled to retain that licence.
(2) A person who, without reasonable excuse, fails to supply any information required under paragraph (1) shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
11 
Where a person is authorised to carry on the business of the holder of a PSV operator’s licence by virtue of an authorisation under section 57(4)(b) of the 1981 Act, such person shall be treated as the holder of any Community licence held by the holder of the PSV operator’s licence, for the same period as is specified in that authorisation.
12 

(1) Where an offence under these Regulations has been committed by a body corporate and it is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (1) shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.
(3) Where an offence under these Regulations has been committed by a Scottish partnership and it is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a partner, he as well as the partnership shall be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
13 

(1) At the end of section 1(1)(a) of the Road Traffic (Foreign Vehicles) Act 1972, there shall be added–“
 any functions of the authorised inspecting officer under a Community instrument specified in that column, or”
(2) At the end of Schedule 1 to that Act, there shall be added:“
Article 3a(3) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 684/92 of 16 March 1992 on common rules for the international carriage of passengers by coach and bus, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 11/98 of 11 December 1997. To require the production of a certain document which is required to be kept on board certain passenger vehicles.”
(3) At the end of Schedule 2 to that Act, there shall be added–“
Regulations 3 and 7 of the Public Service Vehicles (Community Licences) Regulations 1999. To impose a penalty for contravention of certain requirements relating to international passenger services.”
Signed by authority of the Secretary of State
Glenda Jackson.
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
10th May 1999