S.I. No. 253/1980 - European Communities (International Carriage of Goods by Road) Regulations, 1980.

S.I. No. 253 of 1980.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (INTERNATIONAL CARRIAGE OF GOODS BY ROAD) REGULATIONS, 1980.

I, ALBERT REYNOLDS, Minister for Transport, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving effect to the First Council Directive⁽¹⁾ on the establishment of common rules for certain types of carriage of goods by road between Member States, as amended by Council Directive 72/426/EEC⁽²⁾, Council Directive 74/149/EEC⁽³⁾, Council Directive 77/158/EEC⁽⁴⁾, Council Directive 78/175/EEC⁽⁵⁾ and Council Directive 80/49/EEC⁽⁶⁾, hereby make the following Regulations:

⁽¹⁾OJ No. 70. 6.8.1962. p.2005.

⁽²⁾OJ No. L 291. 28.12.1972. p.155.

⁽³⁾OJ No. L 84. 28.3.1974. p.8.

⁽⁴⁾OJ No. L 48. 19.2.1977. p.30.

⁽⁵⁾OJ No. L 54. 25.2.1978. p.18.

⁽⁶⁾OJ No. L 18. 24.1.1980. P.23.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (International Carriage of Goods by Road) Regulations, 1980 and shall come into operation on the 1st day of August, 1980.

2. In these Regulations—

"permissible laden weight" means the maximum weight of a laden vehicle, without crew and passengers, declared permissible by the competent authority of the State in which the vehicle is registered;

"permissible payload" means the differences in weight between the permissible laden weight and the unladen weight of a vehicle;

"unladen weight" means the weight of a vehicle without crew, passengers or load but with a full supply of fuel and with the tools which the vehicle normally carries;

"vehicle" means a mechanically propelled road vehicle registered in a Member State of the Community and includes any trailer or semi-trailer coupled thereto.

3. Subject to regulation 9 of these Regulations, these Regulations apply to a vehicle which is engaged in the carriage of goods between the State and another Member State or is crossing the territory of the State while so engaged in the carriage of goods between other Member States, where the vehicle—

( a ) is engaged either in a type of carriage specified at a reference number in the Schedule to these Regulations,

( b ) in the case of carriage of goods between the State and any other Member State whose territories are separated solely by an area of sea, is—

(i) loaded or unloaded at a place within the State which is inside a radius of 25 kilometres from the place where it embarked on or disembarked from a means of sea transport specially constructed and equipped for the carriage of commercial vehicles and operated as a regular service, and

(ii) unloaded or loaded at a place within such other Member State which is within a radius of 25 kilometres (or such greater radius as is for the time being permitted, for the purpose of the First Council Directive as amended by Council Directive 78/175/EEC⁽⁵⁾^, by the laws of such other Member State) from the place where it disembarked from or embarked on a means of sea transport specially constructed and equipped for the carriage of commercial vehicles and operated as a regular service.

⁽⁵⁾OJ No. L 54. 25.2.1978. p.18.

( c ) in the case of carriage of goods between the State and any other Member State whose territories are not separated solely by an area of sea, where the places of loading and unloading are not more than 100 kilometres in a straight line from each other is—

(i) loaded or unloaded at a place within the State not more than 25 kilometres in a straight line from the common land frontier, and

(ii) unloaded or loaded at a place within such other Member State not more than 25 kilometres (or such greater distance as is for the time being permitted, for the purpose of the First Council Directive as amended by Council Directive 78/175/EEC⁽⁵⁾, by the laws of such other Member State) in a straight line from the common land frontier, or

⁽⁵⁾OJ No. L 54. 25.2.1978. p.18.

( d ) has a permissible laden weight not exceeding 6 metric tons or a permissible payload not exceeding 3.5 metric tons.

4. Notwithstanding section 7 of the Road Transport Act, 1935 (No. 23 of 1935) (as amended by section 29 of the Transport Act, 1958 (No. 19 of 1958)) and section 8 (inserted by section 4 of the Road Transport Act, 1978 (No. 8 of 1978)) of the Road Transport Act, 1971 (No. 8 of 1971), neither a licence under the said section 7 (as so amended) nor a restricted road freight licence shall be required for the importation into the State of a vehicle to which these Regulations apply.

5. Section 9 (inserted by section 2 of the Road Transport Act, 1978 (No. 8 of 1978)) and section 34 of the Road Transport Act, 1933 (No. 8 of 1933), shall not apply in the case of a vehicle to which these Regulations apply imported into the State in accordance with regulation 4 of these Regulations.

6. (1) The inspection authorities may require a person whose vehicle is being or has been imported into the State in accordance with regulation 4 of these Regulations to prove to their satisfaction that the vehicle is a vehicle to which these Regulations apply.

(2) In this regulation "the inspection authorities" means a member of the Garda Síochána or an officer of the Revenue Commissioners.

7. A vehicle to which these Regulations apply shall not be used for the delivery in the State of goods which have been loaded on to that vehicle in the State.

8. (1) A person who contravenes regulation 7 of these Regulations or who fails or refuses to comply with a requirement under regulation 6 of these Regulations shall be guilty of an offence.

(2) A person who is guilty of an offence under these Regulations shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £200.

9. These Regulations shall not affect the conditions under which a person normally resident or lawfully established in the State may be authorised to engage in the activities mentioned in the First Council Directive.

SCHEDULE

Types of carriage exempted from licensing requirements of the Road Transport Acts.

Ref. No.	Types of Carriage
1.	Occasional carriage of goods being carried to or from airports, in the event of air services being diverted.
2.	Carriage of luggage (a) in trailers coupled to passenger-carrying vehicles or (b) to or from airports.
3.	Carriage of mails.
4.	Carriage of vehicles which have suffered damage or breakdown.
5.	Carriage of refuse and sewage.
6.	Carriage of animal carcases for disposal.
7.	Carriage of bees or fish fry.
8.	Carriage of articles required for medical care in emergency relief and in particular for relief in natural disasters.
9.	Carriage of goods which by reason of their value are carried in specially constructed vehicles which are accompanied by police or other security guards.
10.	Funeral transport.
11.	The carriage of goods in motor vehicles where the following conditions are fulfilled:—
	(a) the goods carried are the property of the undertaking or have been sold, bought, let out on hire or hired, produced, extracted, processed or repaired by the undertaking;
	(b) the purpose of the journey is to carry the goods to or from the undertaking or to move them, either inside the undertaking or outside for its own requirements;
	(c) motor vehicles used for such carriage are driven by employees of the undertaking;
	(d) the vehicles carrying the goods are owned by the undertaking or have been bought by it on deferred terms (but this provision does not apply to the use of a replacement vehicle during a short breakdown of the vehicle normally used);
	(e) carriage is only ancillary to the overall activities of the undertaking.

GIVEN under my Official Seal this 1st day of August, 1980.

ALBERT REYNOLDS,

Minister for Transport.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations give effect to the First Council Directive of 23rd July, 1962, as amended, on the establishment of common rules for certain types of carriage of goods by road between Member States of the EEC. The Directive, which applies to carriage both for hire or reward and on own account, frees from quota and licensing controls certain categories of international road freight transport; certain other categories are freed from quota controls only. The Regulations do not apply to those categories of international road freight transport freed from quota controls only as the provisions of the Road Transport Acts are adequate for this purpose.