Citation, commencement and extent

1. These Regulations—

(a)may be cited as the Road Transport (International Passenger Services) Regulations 2018;

(b)come into force on 1st February 2019; and

(c)do not extend to Northern Ireland.

Revocation

^M42.The Public Service Vehicles (Community Licences) Regulations 2011 are revoked.

Interpretation

3.—(1) In these Regulations—

^M5“the 1981 Act” means the Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981 ;

^M6“the 1981 Regulations” means the Public Service Vehicles (Conditions of Fitness, Equipment, Use and Certification) Regulations 1981 ;

“EEA State” means a State, not being a member State, which is a party to the EEA Agreement;

[^F1“Interbus” means the Agreement on the international occasional carriage of passengers by coach and bus (Interbus Agreement) originally concluded in Brussels on 30th June 2001 and as acceded to by the United Kingdom by instrument of accession deposited on 29th October 2020;^F1]

“PSV operator's licence” has the meaning given by section 82(1) of the 1981 Act;

^M7“Regulation 1071/2009” means Regulation (EC) No 1071/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing common rules concerning the conditions to be complied with to pursue the occupation of road transport operator ;

[^F2“RPT Chapter” means Title II of Heading Three of Part Two (transport of passengers by road) of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, together with—

[^F2“RSR Protocol” means the Protocol to Interbus regarding the international regular and special regular carriage of passengers by coach and bus;^F2]

[^F2“Trade and Cooperation Agreement” has the meaning given in section 37(1) of the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020;^F2]

^F3...

“traffic commissioner” means a commissioner appointed under section 4 of the 1981 Act;

(2) For the purposes of [^F4the RPT Chapter, Interbus and the RSR Protocol^F4] , “authorised inspecting officer” means—

(a)a police constable in uniform; or

(b)an examiner appointed under section 66A(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988

^M8(3) Terms and expressions used in [^F5the RPT Chapter, Interbus or the RSR Protocol^F5] have the same meaning in these Regulations.

[^F6Status of international agreements

3A.—(1)The road passenger transport agreements, in their English language version, form part of domestic law on and after 1st April 2025.

(2)Any enactment has effect on and after 1st April 2025 with such modifications as—

(a)are required in consequence of paragraph (1) or otherwise for the purposes of implementing the road passenger transport agreements, and

(b)are capable of being ascertained from the agreements or otherwise from the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, as it has effect on that date.

(3)Paragraphs (1) and (2)—

(a)are subject to any equivalent or other provision—

(i)which (whether before, on or after 1st April 2025) is made by or under the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020 or any other enactment or otherwise forms part of domestic law, and

(ii)which is for the purposes of (or has the effect of) implementing to any extent the Trade and Cooperation Agreement or any other future relationship agreement (as defined in section 37(1) of the European Union (Future Relationship) Act 2020), and

(b)do not limit the scope of any power which is capable of being exercised to make any such provision.

(4)For the purposes of this regulation—

(a)the road passenger transport agreements are the following, as they have effect on 1st April 2025—

(i)the RPT Chapter,

(ii)Interbus, and

(iii)the RSR Protocol;

(b)references to the purposes of (or having the effect of) implementing an agreement (or any provision of an agreement) include references to the purposes of (or having the effect of) making provision consequential on any such implementation.

(5)In this regulation “domestic law” means the law of—

(a)England and Wales, and

(b)Scotland.^F6]

Competent authorities

[^F74.—(1)The competent authority is—

(a)for the purposes mentioned in paragraph (2), the Secretary of State; and

(b)for the purposes mentioned in paragraph (3), the Confederation of Passenger Transport.

(2)The purposes mentioned in paragraph (1)(a) are these Regulations and—

(a)non-liberalised occasional services to which Articles 15 and 16 of Interbus apply where the point of departure is in Great Britain;

(b)regular and special regular services to which—

(i)Articles 477, 479, 480 and 481 of the RPT Chapter apply; and

(ii)Articles 8 to 12 of the RSR Protocol apply;

for transport operators established in Great Britain.

(3)The purposes mentioned in paragraph (1)(b) are—

(a)the issue of control documents to transport operators established in Great Britain for the purposes of Article 10 of Interbus for occasional services exempted from authorisation as set out in Annex 3 of Interbus; and

(b)occasional services outside the scope of Interbus but falling within Article 475 of the RPT Chapter where the point of departure is in Great Britain.

(4)It is the duty of the competent authority to perform the functions conferred on the competent authority by the provisions specified in paragraph (2) or (3) as appropriate.^F7]

Use of a public service vehicle not registered in the United Kingdom

5.—(1) This regulation applies to a vehicle not registered in the United Kingdom but which is registered in [^F8a^F8] member State, an EEA State or an Interbus State, and which is being used in Great Britain in accordance with—

(a)Interbus for the provision of liberalised occasional services or non-liberalised occasional services, or

[^F9(b)the RSR Protocol for the provision of regular services or special regular services, or

(c)the RPT Chapter for the provision of occasional services, regular services or special regular services outside the scope of Interbus and the RSR Protocol.^F9]

(2) In relation to a vehicle to which this regulation applies—

(a)the 1981 Act has effect as if sections 6 (certificate of initial fitness), 12 (PSV operator's licence) and 18 (duty to exhibit operator's disc) were omitted, and

(b)the 1981 Regulations have effect as if Parts II-V were omitted.

(3) In this regulation “Interbus State” means a State, not being a member State, which is a contracting party to Interbus.

Use of a public service vehicle for regular [^F10or special regular^F10] services for international operations

6.[^F11—(1)This regulation applies to a vehicle which is registered in a member State, an EEA State or an Interbus State, and which is being used in Great Britain in accordance with the RSR Protocol or the RPT Chapter for the provision of—

(a)regular services, or

(b)special regular services.^F11]

(2) In relation to a vehicle to which this regulation applies—

(a)^M9the Transport Act 1985 has effect as if section 6 (registration of local services) were omitted, and

(b)^M10the Greater London Authority Act 1999 has effect as if Part IV (Transport) and Chapter V (regulation of bus services in Greater London) were omitted.

[^F12(3)In this regulation “Interbus State” has the same meaning as in regulation 5.^F12]

Fees

7.—(1) An applicant for a [^F13relevant document^F13] must pay to the Confederation of Passenger Transport, when an application is made [^F14to the Confederation of Passenger Transport^F14] , a fee of such amount as may, with the approval of the Secretary of State, be required by it.

(2) An applicant for [^F15a relevant document^F15] must pay to the Secretary of State, when an application is made [^F16to the Secretary of State^F16] , a fee of such amount as may be required.

(3) For the purposes of paragraphs (1) and (2) the fee must be no more than the reasonable cost of processing that application.

[^F17(4)In this regulation “relevant document” means—

(a)a control document,

(b)an authorisation,

(c)a journey form, or

(d)a waybill.^F17]

Control documents for cabotage operations

^F188. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Issue of a Community licence and authorisation

^F189. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Withdrawal of a Community licence

^F1810. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Rights of appeal

^F1811. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

^F19Supply of information ...

12.—(1) The competent authority may refuse to issue [^F20an^F20] authorisation to an applicant if the applicant fails to supply any information that the competent authority may reasonably request pursuant to [^F21—

(a)Article 9(3) of the RSR Protocol; or

(b)Article 478(3) of the RPT Chapter.^F21]

^F23(2) The holder of [^F22an^F22] authorisation must supply such information as the competent authority may reasonably require from time to time to enable the authority to decide whether the holder is entitled to retain the ... authorisation.

^F24(3) A person who fails to supply any information required under paragraph (2) may have the ... authorisation, and any certified true copies of it, withdrawn by the competent authority.

Power to stop

13.—(1) Paragraph (2) applies if it appears to a stopping officer that a vehicle is being used in circumstances such that—

[^F25(a)an operator’s licence for the international carriage of passengers by road,^F25]

(b)an authorisation, or

(c)a control document,

may be required.

(2) The stopping officer may direct the driver to stop the vehicle so that an authorised inspecting officer can conduct checks as to whether an offence has been committed under these Regulations.

^M11(3) In this regulation “stopping officer” means an officer appointed under section 66B of the Road Traffic Act 1988 ,

Death, bankruptcy etc. of holder of Community licence

^F2614. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Amendment of certain enactments

^M1215.—(1)The Road Traffic (Foreign Vehicles) Act 1972 is amended as follows.

(2) In Schedule 1 (provisions conferring functions on examiners) after the entry relating to Article 4(3) of Regulation insert— (EC) No 1073/2009

(3) In Schedule 2 (provisions relating to vehicles and their drivers)—

(a)for the entry relating to regulation 4 of the Public Service Vehicles (Community Licences) Regulations 2011, substitute—

(b)for the entry relating to regulation 10 of the Public Service Vehicles (Community Licences) Regulations 2011, substitute—

Offences

16.[^F27—(1)A person is guilty of an offence if that person breaches a provision of—

(a)Interbus set out in Schedule 2;

(b)the RSR Protocol set out in Schedule 3; or

(c)the RPT Chapter set out in Schedule 4.^F27]

(2) It is an offence—

(a)intentionally to obstruct any person acting in the execution or enforcement of these Regulations;

(b)without reasonable cause, to fail to give to any such person any assistance or information which that person may reasonably require for those purposes;

(c)to furnish to any such person information knowing it to be false or misleading; or

(d)to fail to produce a document or record to any such person when required to do so.

Offence by bodies corporate and partnerships

17.—(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 any neglect on the part of an officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act as an officer of the body corporate, that officer or person (as well as the body corporate) is guilty of 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, 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) Where an offence under these Regulations has been committed by a Scottish partnership and 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, that partner as well as the partnership is guilty of the offence and is liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

(4) In this regulation “officer” in relation to a body corporate means a director, secretary of other similar officer of the body corporate.

Penalties

18. A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

Regulation 16

^F28SCHEDULE 1Offences for breach of Regulation 1073/2009

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Regulation 16

SCHEDULE 2Offences for breach of Interbus

Regulation 16(1)(b)

Schedule 3[^F29Offences for breach of the RSR Protocol

Regulation 16(1)(c)

[^F29Schedule 4Offences for breach of the RPT Chapter