What’s Under Review?
The full EC consultation can be found here.
In general terms this means all goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes used for commercial purposes.
In order to obtain an operator license a person has to show that they:
- Are of good repute and fit to hold a license;
- Have appropriate financial standing (i.e. have enough money to run a business);
- Have good enough maintenance arrangements;
- Are capable of following the rules.
There is currently no requirement to hold an operator’s license for goods vehicles under 3.5 tonnes and certain other vehicles, such as agricultural tractors, are exempt.
In the UK, the rules are implemented in the UK by the Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995.
The purpose of the regulation is to ensure the safe use of goods vehicles on the roads and to protect the environment around the depots used by licensed operators of goods vehicles, known as operating centres.
What Could Change?
The EU is consulting on possible changes to:
- The exemption from regulation for vehicles under 3.5 tonnes used for commercial purposes
- What a person who wants to become a licensed operator of goods vehicles needs to show
The Commission has identified that the current rules are applied in different ways in the EU. Some states have gold-plated the rules by:
- Removing the exemption for vehicles weighing under 3.5 tonnes
- Adding extra license requirements for people who want to become a licensed operator in addition to the need to have good repute, financial standing, adequate maintenance arrangements and good compliance with the rules
Our initial thoughts
The NFU considers that the existing rules are already sufficiently wide ranging, that no change is required. We think that:
- no additional burdens should be imposed on operators of goods vehicles under 3.5 tonnes
- no additional requirements should be imposed on persons who want to get an operator’s license in order to run goods vehicles on road
Questions
We want to hear your views on whether or not:
- The current exemption from the rules for vehicles weighing 3.5 tonnes and under should remain unchanged.
- Any additional requirements are required by a person who wants to become a licensed operator.
Also please let us know of any other comments you may have as we would like to include information on practical experiences of the use of vehicles under 3.5 tones in farming businesses and the impact that any change could bring in the industry in our response.
What about Brexit?
The UK may have voted to leave the European Union but the process of negotiating the exit may take several years. Until the Brexit negotiations are complete and the UK has actually left all EU rules and law will continue to apply in the UK. The extent to which EU law will continue to apply in the UK after the Brexit negotiations are finalised is one of the great unknown questions of Brexit at present.
It is because of the continuing application of EU rules and regulations that there is a need for the NFU to keep a keen eye on new developments and respond in the interests of UK agriculture to any proposed changes.