Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations—

(a) may be cited as the Transport Act 1985 (Amendment) Regulations 2019; and

(b) come into force on 1st October 2019.

Amendments of the Transport Act 1985

2. —(1)The Transport Act 1985( 2 ) is amended as follows.

(2) In section 18 (exemption from PSV operator and driver licensing requirements of vehicles used under permits) —

(a) in subsection (1)(a), after “use” insert “by an exempt body”;

(b) in subsection (1)(b), after “use” insert “by an exempt body”;

(c) in subsection (5)—

(i) at the end of the definition of “Community licence”, omit “and”;

(ii) after the definition of “Community licence”, insert—

“ “exempt body” means a body—

(iii) at the end of the definition of “small bus”, insert—

“ ; and

“the 2009 Regulation” means Regulation (EC) No. 1071/2009 3 ) of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing common rules concerning the conditions to be complied with to pursue the occupation of road transport operator and repealing Council Directive 96/26/EC 4 ) ” ;

(d) after subsection (5), insert—

“ (6) For the purposes of paragraph (c) of the definition of “exempt body”, the circumstances in which a body engaged exclusively in national transport operations (within the meaning of the 2009 Regulation) is to be taken to satisfy the requirements of Article 1(5)(b) of that Regulation include (but are not limited to) a case where, except on an occasional basis—

(a) each service operated by the body using a public service vehicle under a permit is operated within a radius of ten miles from a place specified by that body upon applying for the grant (or variation) of that permit; or

(b) in respect of each service operated by the body using a public service vehicle under a permit, the distance from the first place where any passenger using that service is taken up to the last place where any passenger using that service is set down, is not more than ten miles, measured in a straight line. ” .

(3) In section 19 (permits in relation to use of public service vehicles by educational and other bodies)—

(a) in subsection (1), after the definition of “bus” insert—

“ “exempt body” has the same meaning as in section 18 of this Act; ” ;

(b) in subsection (1), in the definition of “permit”, after “granted” insert “to an exempt body”;

(c) in subsections (2)(a) and (3), for “a body”, substitute “an exempt body”;

(d) in subsection (3), for “other body”, substitute “other exempt body”;

(e) in subsections (4), (5) and (7), for “any body”, substitute “any exempt body”;

(f) in subsection (7)—

(i) for “bodies”, substitute “exempt bodies”;

(ii) in paragraph (a), for “classes of body” substitute “classes of exempt body”;

(iii) in paragraph (c), for “the body” substitute “the designated body”;

(g) in subsections (8) and (9), for “A body”, substitute “An exempt body”.

(4) In section 20 (further provision with respect to permits under section 19)—

(a) in subsection (7), at the end of paragraph (b) insert—

“ ; or

(c) it ceases to have effect under subsection (8) or (9) below ” ;

(b) after subsection (7) insert—

“ (8) A permit granted at any time to an exempt body ceases to have effect on the date on which the body ceases to be an exempt body.

(9) A permit granted before 1st October 2019 ceases to have effect on that date if the body to whom it was granted is not an exempt body on that date. ” .

(5) In section 22 (community bus permits)—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) in the definition of “community bus service”, for “a body”, substitute “an exempt body”;

(ii) at the end of the definition of “community bus service”, omit “and”;

(iii) in the definition of “community bus permit”, after “granted” insert “to an exempt body”;

(iv) at the end of the definition of “community bus permit”, insert—

“ ; and

“exempt body” has the same meaning as in section 18 of this Act ” ;

(b) in subsection (4), for “A body”, substitute “An exempt body”.

(6) In section 23 (further provision with respect to community bus permits), after subsection (6), insert—

“ (6A) A community bus permit shall remain in force until—

(a) it is revoked under subsection (6) above, or

(b) it ceases to have effect under subsection (6B) or (6C) below.

(6B) A community bus permit granted at any time to an exempt body ceases to have effect on the date on which the body ceases to be an exempt body.

(6C) A community bus permit granted before 1st October 2019 ceases to have effect on that date if the body to whom it was granted is not an exempt body on that date. ” .

Review

3. —(1) The Secretary of State must from time to time—

(a) carry out a review of the regulatory provision contained in regulation 2, and

(b) publish a report setting out the conclusions of the review.

(2) The first report must be published before 30th September 2024.

(3) Subsequent reports must be published at intervals not exceeding 5 years.

(4)Section 30(4) of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015( 5 ) requires that a report published under this regulation must, in particular—

(a) set out the objectives intended to be achieved by the regulatory provision referred to in paragraph 1(a),

(b) assess the extent to which those objectives are achieved,

(c) assess whether those objectives remain appropriate, and

(d) if those objectives remain appropriate, assess the extent to which they could be achieved in another way which involves less onerous regulatory provision.

(5) In this regulation, “regulatory provision” has the same meaning as in sections 28 to 32 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 (see section 32 of that Act).