The Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) (Amendment) Regulations 1994

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations further amend the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986.

Regulation 3 gives effect to Schedules 1 and 2 to the Regulations. Regulation 4 makes some minor and consequential amendments to the 1986 Regulations.

Schedules 1 and 2 to the Regulations replace regulation 57 of the 1986 Regulations with new regulations 57, 57A and 57B and with a new Schedule 7A.

The new regulation 57 requires motor cycles to be so constructed that they meet specified noise limit requirements. These requirements are unchanged. As before, there is an exemption for vehicles first used before 1st April 1991 that have been approved under Council Directive 78/1015/EEC or that Directive as amended by Council Directive 87/56/EEC. Also, as before, there is an exemption for vehicles first used on or after 1st April 1991 that have been approved under the 1978 Directive as amended by the 1987 Directive. There is, however, in both cases a new exemption for vehicles approved under the 1978 Directive as further amended by Council Directive 89/235/EEC.

Previously, regulation 57 required original silencers fitted to motor cycles to meet certain requirements in Annex I to the 1978 Directive. The new regulation 57A(1) requires an original silencer fitted to a motor cycle first used before 1st February 1996 to meet those same requirements. However, new regulation 57A(2) requires such a silencer fitted to a motor cycle first used on or after that date to comply with certain requirements of the 1978 Directive as amended by the 1989 Directive. The new regulation 57A(3) contains exemptions for vehicles approved under the Directives.

New regulation 57A(4) replaces regulation 57(3)(b). It requires a replacement silencer to meet certain technical and noise requirements. The requirements are based on the Directives referred to above and British Standards BS AU 193: 1983 and BS AU 193a: 1990. The requirements vary according to the date of first use of the motor cycle to which a silencer is fitted. There are also transitional provisions.

New regulation 57A(13) replaces regulation 57(4) and prohibits the use of a motor cycle on a road if any part of the exhaust system is marked “not for road use” or words to that effect.

New regulation 57B imposes a new prohibition on the use of a motor cycle if it does not meet certain requirements and would make materially less noise if it were in good and efficient working order or had not been altered.

A compliance cost assessment has been prepared and copies can be obtained from the Department of Transport, Room C19/08, 2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 3EB. A copy has been placed in the library of each House of Parliament.

Copies of the EEC Directives can be obtained from Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. Copies of the British Standards can be obtained from the British Standards Institution, Sales Department, Linford Wood, Milton Keynes MK14 6LE (telephone: 0908 221166). The details of the EEC Directives are set out below.