Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002

Made: 25th July 2002

Coming into operation: 1st September 2002

The Department of the Environment, in exercise of the powers conferred on it by Articles 55(1), (2) and (6), and 110(2) of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995[^f00001] and of every other power enabling it in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

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• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment No. 2) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 and shall come into operation on 1st September 2002.

• (2) In these Regulations “the principal Regulations” means the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999[^f00002].

Amendment to regulation 54 (seat belt anchorage points)

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For regulation 54 of the principal Regulations there shall be substituted the regulation set out in the Schedule.

Amendments to regulation 55 (seat belts)

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• (1) Regulation 55 of the principal Regulations shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) to (8).

• (2) In paragraph (2) –

• (a) in sub-paragraph (c) for the words “regulation 54(4)(a)(ii) or (iii)” there shall be substituted “item 9 or 10 of the Table in regulation 54(3)”;

• (b) in sub-paragraph (d) for the words “regulation 54(4)(a)(i)(B)” there shall be substituted “item 3 of the Table in regulation 54(3)”.

• (c) in sub-paragraph (e) for the words “regulation 54(5)(b)” there shall be substituted “item 6 of the Table in regulation 54(3)”; and

• (d) after sub-paragraph (e) there shall be inserted –

(f) item 5 of the Table in regulation 54(3) applies shall be fitted – (i) as respects the driver’s seat with a three-point belt or a lap belt; and (ii) as respects every other forward-facing front seat with a three-point belt, a lap belt installed in accordance with paragraph 3.1.2.1 of Annex I to Community Directive 77/541 or a disabled person’s belt; (g) item 7 of the Table in regulation 54(3) applies shall be fitted, as respects every forward-facing seat, with— (i) an inertia reel belt; (ii) a retractable lap belt installed in compliance with paragraph 3.1.10 of Annex I to Community Directive 96/36 or 2000/3; (iii) a disabled person’s belt; or (iv) a child restraint; (h) item 7 of the Table in regulation 54(3) applies shall be fitted, as respects every rearward-facing seat, with— (i) an inertia reel belt; (ii) a retractable lap belt; (iii) a disabled person’s belt; or (iv) a child restraint; (i) item 8 of the Table in regulation 54(3) applies shall be fitted, as respects every forward-facing seat, with— (i) an inertia reel belt; (ii) a disabled person’s belt; or (iii) a child restraint; (j) item 9 of the Table in regulation 54(3) applies shall be fitted, as respects every rearward-facing seat, with— (i) an inertia reel belt; (ii) a retractable lap belt; (iii) a disabled person’s belt; or (iv) a child restraint.

• (3) In paragraph (4) –

• (a) for the words “paragraph (2)(b), (c), (d) or (e)” there shall be substituted “any of the paragraphs (2)(b) to (j)”; and

• (b) for the words “or 82/319 or 90/628 or 96/36” there shall be substituted “, 82/319, 90/628, 96/36 or 2000/3”.

• (4) In paragraph (5)(e) for the words “regulation 54(5)(a)” there shall be substituted “item 4 of the Table in regulation 54(3)”.

• (5) After paragraph (5) there shall be inserted –

(5A) Vehicles constructed or adapted for the secure transport of prisoners shall not be required to comply with the requirements of paragraph (2) in relation to seats for persons other than the driver and front seat passenger provided that those seats shall have seat belt anchorage points provided for them in accordance with regulation 54.

• (6) In paragraph (6) after the words “disabled person’s belt” there shall be inserted “first fitted before 1st September 2002”.

• (7) In paragraph (8) for sub-paragraph (b) there shall be substituted –

(b) in any other case – (i) with a designated approval mark; or (ii) with an EC Component Type-Approval Mark complying with Annex III to Community Directive 2000/3.

• (8) In paragraph (11) after the definition of “lap belt” the following definition shall be inserted –

• “retractable lap belt” means a lap belt with either an automatically locking retractor (as defined in paragraph 1.8.3 of Annex I to Community Directive 77/541) or an emergency locking retractor (as defined in paragraph 1.8.4 of Annex I to Community Directive 77/541);

Amendment to regulation 56 (maintenance of seat belts and anchorage points)

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In regulation 56(1) of the principal Regulations for the words “regulation 54(5)(a)” there shall be substituted “regulation 54(3) and item 4 in the Table in that regulation”.

Amendment to regulation 57 (minibuses and coaches to be fitted with additional seat belts when used in certain circumstances)

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In regulation 57 of the principal Regulations after paragraph (3) there shall be inserted –

(3A) For the purposes of this regulation a rearward-facing seat shall be treated as a forward-facing seat which meets the requirements of this regulation if the coach or minibus concerned was first used on or after 1st September 2002, and the rearward-facing seat complies with the requirements of regulations 54 and 55.

Amendment of Schedule 1 (Table I Community Directives and Table II ECE Regulations)

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• (1) Schedule 1 to the principal Regulations shall be amended in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3).

• (2) In column 2 of item 68 in Table I for “90/269” there shall be substituted “90/629”.

• (3) After the entry for item 11 in Table II there shall be inserted –

Amendment of Schedule 10 (emissions from certain motor vehicles)

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For paragraph 8 of Schedule 10 to the principal Regulations there shall be substituted –

(8) This Part of this Schedule applies to a vehicle if, when tested in accordance with point 8.2.2 of Annex II of Council Directive 96/96/EC[^f00003] as replaced with Article 1 of Commission Directive 1999/52/EC[^f00004], the coefficient of absorption of the exhaust emissions from the engine of the vehicle immediately after leaving the exhaust system exceeds— (a) if the engine of the vehicle is turbo-charged, 3.0 per metre, or (b) in any other case, 2.5 per metre.

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The Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002[^f00005] are hereby revoked.

SCHEDULE — REGULATION TO BE SUBSTITUTED FOR REGULATION 54

Signed

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of the Environment on 25th July 2002.

Dermot Nesbitt — Minister of the Environment

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These Regulations revoke and replace the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2002 to correct a number of drafting errors.

They amend the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 in relation to seat belts and their anchorage points in the light of EC Directives 96/36/EC, 96/38/EC and 2000/3/EC.

Regulation 2 and the Schedule substitute a new regulation 54 which specifies what anchorage points are to be fitted to which vehicles and the technical requirements for anchorage points. Regulation 3 amends regulation 55 which makes corresponding provision for seat belts and regulation 4 makes a consequential amendment to regulation 56 (maintenance of seat belts and anchorage points). Regulation 5 amends regulation 57 so as to enable rearward-facing seats meeting specified requirements to count towards the minimum number of forward-facing seats with seat belts that must be provided on minibuses and coaches to carry groups of children on organised trips. Regulation 6 corrects a reference to a Community Directive in item 68 in Table I in Schedule 1 and inserts some references to ECE Regulations 14.04 and 14.05 in Table II in Schedule 1.

The opportunity has been taken to correct a drafting error in paragraph 8 of Schedule 10 to the principal Regulations.

These Regulations have been notified to the European Commission pursuant to Directive 98/34/EC of 22nd June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations and of rules on Information Society services (O.J. No. L204, 21.07.98, p. 37-48) as amended by Directive 98/48 EC of 20th July 1998 (O.J. No. L217, 05.08.98, p. 18-26).

Copies of the relevant Directives and ECE Regulations can be obtained from TSO, 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: S.I. 1995/2994 (N.I. 18); see Article 2(2) for the definition of “the Department”

[^f00002]: S.R. 1999 No. 454; relevant amending regulations are S.R. 2001 No. 28, S.R. 2001 No. 241 and S.R. 2002 No. 197

[^f00003]: O.J. No. L46, 17.02.97, p. 1

[^f00004]: O.J. No. L142, 05.06.99, p. 26

[^f00005]: S.R. 2002 No. 197

[^f00006]: O.J. No. L233 25.8.97, p. 1