Statutory Instruments
ROAD TRAFFIC
Made
3rd November 2000
Laid before Parliament
3rd November 2000
Coming into force
4th November 2000
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, being a Minister designated(1) for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 1972(2) in relation to the regulation and supervision of working conditions of persons engaged in road transport, in exercise of the powers conferred by that section and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following regulations:-
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Community Drivers' Hours (Tankers) (Temporary Exception) Regulations 2000 and shall come into force on 4th November 2000.
2.-(1) Pursuant to Article 13(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3820/85 of 20th December 1985 on the harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport(3), until 3rd December 2000 any time spent driving a tanker to meet exceptional circumstances occasioned by the exceptional demand for fuel supplies in Great Britain, or the effects or consequences of such exceptional circumstances, shall not be taken into account for the purposes of Article 6(2) of that Regulation.
(2) In relation to the driving of a tanker in the exceptional circumstances mentioned in paragraph (1) above, the said Council Regulation shall have effect as if:-
(a)in Article 6, paragraph 1 first sentence, for the reference to "nine hours" there were substituted "ten hours" and the second sentence of that paragraph were deleted;
(b)in Article 8, paragraph 3 first sentence, for the reference to "45 consecutive hours" there were substituted "24 consecutive hours" and the remainder of that paragraph were deleted.
(3) In this regulation "tanker" means a road tanker, as defined in regulation 2 of the Carriage of Dangerous Goods (Classification, Packaging and Labelling) and Use of Transportable Pressure Receptacles Regulations 1996(4), which is being used for the carriage of petroleum products.
Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.
Larry Whitty
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions
3rd November 2000
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
Article 13(2) of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3820/85 of 20th December 1985 on harmonisation of certain social legislation relating to road transport ("the Council Regulation") provides that Member States may in urgent cases grant a temporary exception for a period not exceeding 30 days to transport operations carried out in exceptional circumstances.
These Regulations provide that until 3rd December 2000, any time spent driving tankers in the exceptional circumstances occasioned by the exceptional demand for fuel supplies in Great Britain, or the effects or consequences of such exceptional circumstances, shall not be taken into account for the purposes of the application of Article 6(2) of the Council Regulation.
The Regulations also provide that in relation to the driving of tankers in the exceptional circumstances mentioned above, Articles 6(1) and 8(3) of the Council Regulation shall have effect subject to certain modifications.