Road Traffic Act 1988

63Obligatory type approval certificates, certificates of conformity and Minister’s approval certificates

(1)If—

(a)any person at any time on or after the day appointed by regulations made by the Secretary of State in relation to vehicles or vehicle parts of a prescribed class, being vehicles or vehicle parts to which type approval requirements prescribed by those regulations apply—

(i)uses on a road, or

(ii)causes or permits to be so used,

a vehicle of that class or a vehicle to which is fitted a vehicle part of that class, and

(b)it does not appear from one or more certificates then in force under sections 54 to 58 of this Act that the vehicle or vehicle part complies with those requirements,

he is guilty of an offence.

Different days may be appointed under this subsection in relation to different classes of vehicles or vehicle parts.

(2)If a plating certificate—

(a)has been issued for a goods vehicle to which section 53(1) of this Act or subsection (1) above applies, but

(b)does not specify a maximum laden weight for the vehicle together with any trailer which may be drawn by it,

any person who on or after the relevant date within the meaning of section 53(1) of this Act or, as the case may be, the day appointed under subsection (1) above uses the vehicle on a road for drawing a trailer, or causes or permits it to be so used, is guilty of an offence.

(3)Any person who—

(a)uses a vehicle on a road, or

(b)causes or permits a vehicle to be so used,

when an alteration has been made to the vehicle or its equipment which is required by regulations or directions under section 59 of this Act to be, but has not been, notified to the Secretary of State is guilty of an offence.

(4)In any proceedings for an offence under subsection (3) above, it shall be a defence to prove that the regulations were not or, as the case may be, the alteration was not, specified in the relevant certificate of conformity or Minister’s approval certificate in accordance with regulations under section 59(3) of this Act.

(5)The Secretary of State may by regulations—

(a)exempt from all or any of the preceding provisions of this section the use of vehicles for such purposes or in such an area as may be prescribed,

(b)except any class of goods vehicles from the provisions of subsection (2) above, and

(c)make provision for the issue in respect of a vehicle or vehicle part in such circumstances as may be prescribed of a certificate of temporary exemption exempting that vehicle or vehicle part from the provisions of subsection (1) above for such period as may be specified in the certificate.