S.I. No. 432/1981 - European Communities (Road Passenger Transport) Regulations, 1981

I, PATRICK COONEY, 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 Council Directive No. 74/562/EEC of 12 November, 1974,^a and Council Directive No. 77/796/EEC of 12 December, 1977,^b hereby make the following regulations:

1.

• (2) The Principal Regulations and these Regulations may be cited together as the European Communities (Road Passenger Transport) Regulations, 1977 and 1981.

• (3) The Principal Regulations and these Regulations shall be construed together as one.

2.

“the Council Directive of 1977” means Council Directive No. 77/796/EEC of 12 December, 1977;

“the Principal Regulations” means the European Communities (Road Passenger Transport) Regulations, 1977 ( S.I. No. 388 of 1977 ).

3.

4.

• (2) A person who fails to comply with the requirements of this Regulation shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding £50.

5.

• (2) Where a person of whom the production of a document or documents is demanded under this Regulation refuses to produce such document or documents or produces the document or documents but refuses or fails to permit a member of the Garda Síochána making the demand to read the document or documents, or where a person produces such document or documents at a Garda Síochána station in accordance with paragraph (1) of this Regulation but refuses to allow the member of the Garda Síochána to whom the document or documents is now produced to read it or them, the member may demand of such person his name and address and if such person refuses or fails to give his name and address, or gives a name or address which is false or misleading, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding £50.

• (3) A person who, when producing a document to a member of the Garda Síochána pursuant to this Regulation, permits the member to see so much of the document as contains the name and address of the person to whom the document was granted and the date of the termination of the period in relation to which it was granted shall for the purposes of these Regulations be regarded as having permitted such member to read the document.

• (4)
• (a) In proceedings for an offence under this Regulation it shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown by the defendant, that he produced in person, within ten days after the day on which the production was demanded, neither a document nor documents, as may be appropriate in the particular case, in accordance with paragraph (1) of this Regulation.

• (b) Where in proceedings for an offence under this Regulation it is proved that a member of the Garda Síochána demanded of the defendant the production of a road passenger certificate, that at the time of the alleged offence the defendant was driving a mechanically propelled vehicle and that the vehicle was being used for the carriage of passengers, then, unless there is sufficient other evidence to raise an issue as to whether the vehicle was being used in the carriage of passengers in relation to which the restrictions imposed by Regulation 3 (1) of the Principal Regulations apply, the defendant shall be regarded as having driven the vehicle while it was being used in the carriage of passengers in relation to which the said restrictions apply.

6.

• (a) as regards Regulation 3 (2)—

• (i) the insertion of the following new subparagraph after subparagraph (a):

• “(aa) the carriage is provided by a person having such a main occupation and is by means of a vehicle constructed or adapted for the carriage of not more than seventeen persons (including the driver),”, and

• (ii) the substitution of “provided by a person who is a person of the description contained in section 6 (1) (b) of the Road Transport Act, 1935 (No. 23 of 1935),” for “by means of a mechanically propelled vehicle which complies with the conditions specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of section 6 (1) of the Road Transport Act, 1935 (No. 23 of 1935)” in subparagraph (e); and the said subparagraph (e), as so amended, is set out in paragraph 1 of the Table to this Regulation;

• (b) the substitution of the following for paragraph (9) of Regulation 5:

• “(9) On the application for the grant or renewal of a road passenger certificate, the Minister shall, in considering whether or not a person satisfies the requirements of provision (a), take into account any conviction of which particulars are by these Regulations required to be given by the applicant.”;

• (c) the substitution of the following for subparagraph (d) of Regulation 5(15):

• “(d) any offence under these Regulations,

• (e) any offence under a law in force in a Member State of the European Communities, other than the State, and which corresponds to any of the foregoing offences.”;

• (d) the addition to Regulation 5 of the following paragraph:

• “(16) The references in paragraph (5) (b) of this Regulation to a national certificate of competence and an international certificate of competence shall be construed as including a reference to any document which is issued for the purposes of the Council Directive outside the State by the competent authority in a Member State of the European Communities in accordance with Council Directive No. 77/796/EEC of 12 December, 1977, and corresponds to a national certificate of competence or, as may be appropriate, an international certificate of competence.”; and

• (e) the substitution of “physically or legally incapable” for “incapable through ill-health” where it firstly occurs and of “dies or becomes physically or legally incapable” for “becomes incapable through ill-health” where it secondly occurs in paragraph (1) of Regulation 8, and the said paragraph (1), as so amended, is set out in paragraph 2 of the Table to this Regulation.

TABLE

7.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).

The Instrument provides for the recognition of diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications for road passenger transport operators of other EEC Member States. It also contains amendments to the European Communities (Road Passenger Transport) Regulations, 1977 on admission to the occupation of road passenger transport operator.

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