Explanatory note

The Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (No. 2) Regulations 1973, as amended, provide inter alia—

(a) for the extension of compulsory motor vehicle insurance cover under Part VI of the Road Traffic Act 1972 to include liabilities arising out of the use of a motor vehicle or trailer for which insurance is compulsory in the territories other than Great Britain and Gibraltar of the Member States of the European Communities (Regulations 3 to 5);

(b) for the checking of the insurance cover of vehicles entering Great Britain which are normally based (as defined in Regulation 2(2))—

(i) in a country other than an EEC country, or other than a relevant foreign State namely, Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden or Switzerland,

(ii) in the non-European territory of an EEC country, or

(iii) in Gibraltar,

and the prohibition of the use of such vehicles where uninsured and, if need be, the detention of such vehicles until arrangements are made for insurance or for removal forthwith to a place which is in a territory falling within sub-paragraphs (i), (ii) or (iii) above (Regulations 6 and 7);

(c) for the acceptance of insurance policies issued elsewhere than in the United Kingdom for vehicles normally based in member states other than the United Kingdom and Gibraltar or in a relevant foreign state, without the issue of insurance certificates, and for the giving to a person making a claim, of insurance particulars as specified in the Regulations in lieu of particulars specified in a certificate of insurance or security.

These Regulations apply the term “relevant foreign state” in Regulation 2(1) of those Regulations also to Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic and Hungary with the effect that—

(a) vehicles normally based in those countries are, on entry into Great Britain, exempt from the insurance check referred to in (b) above;

(b) where arrangements are made for the immediate removal of an uninsured vehicle detained under Regulation 7 of those Regulations, the detaining authority may not release the vehicle where it is to be removed to a place in any of those countries; and

(c) the provisions of the Regulations referred to in paragraph (c) above are applied to policies of insurance issued elsewhere than in the United Kingdom for vehicles normally based in those countries.