The Drivers’ Hours and Tachographs (Amendment) Regulations 2020

Explanatory note

Reproduced verbatim from the instrument as published on legislation.gov.uk (Crown Copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0). The note is prepared by the responsible government department and is not part of the instrument itself.

These Regulations implement aspects of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom relating to road freight and passenger transport.

Regulation 2 amends S.I. 2019/453 so that Article 2 of Regulation (EC) 561/2006 will apply to journeys between the UK and the EU as well as domestic journeys within the UK. Regulation 3 further amends Article 2 of Regulation (EC) 561/2006 to this effect and to clarify that the provisions of the European Agreement concerning the Work of Crews of Vehicles engaged in International Road Transport of 1 July 1970, as amended (known as AETR) apply to journeys between the UK and non EU member State countries.

Regulation 4 amends the Transport Act 1968 so as to allow enforcement of historic breaches of drivers’ hours provisions by operators established or having operated in the EU. Regulation 4 also amends the definition of “applicable community rules” in section 103 of the Transport Act 1968 and extends the definition to reflect the requirements of retained Regulation (EC) 561/2006 in light of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Regulation 5 amends the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 extending the prohibition of making of fixed penalty notices and conditional offers to cases where the relevant offence has already been dealt with in an EU member State.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, public or voluntary sectors is foreseen.

An Explanatory Memorandum for this instrument has been published alongside these Regulations at www.legislation.gov.uk .