Section 34 — Compliance notices

(1) The Secretary of State may issue a compliance notice to a regulated body if satisfied that a regulatory requirement is not, or has not been, met by the body.

(2) The Secretary of State may issue a compliance notice to an authorised self-driving entity if satisfied that an authorised automated vehicle has committed a traffic infraction while the entity was responsible for it.

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply if it appears to the Secretary of State that the commission of the traffic infraction was wholly caused by a failure of a licensed no-user-in-charge operator to comply with a requirement under operator licensing regulations.

(4) A compliance notice is a notice requiring the person to whom it is issued to take such actions within subsection (5) as are specified in the notice.

(5) The actions that may be specified are—

(a) in the case of a notice under subsection (1), actions that the Secretary of State considers appropriate in order to secure, or make it more likely, that the regulated body complies with the regulatory requirement in the future;

(b) in the case of a notice under subsection (2), actions that the Secretary of State considers appropriate in order to avoid, or make less likely, the future commission of similar traffic infractions by authorised automated vehicles for which the authorised self-driving entity is responsible.

(6) The actions may be specified by referring (with or without further particulars) to the actions necessary to achieve a result described in the notice.

(7) A compliance notice must—

(a) explain the Secretary of State’s reasons for issuing the notice, and

(b) specify the time by which, or period during which, the specified actions must be taken.

(8) The reference in subsection (4) to taking action includes refraining from taking action; and “actions” in this section is to be read accordingly.