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Explanatory note

Original text. Later amendments are not shown.

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 (“the 1999 Regulations”) by inserting regulation 30A which requires that tyres fitted to certain vehicles are marked with an S mark to show that they comply with the noise emission requirements of Directive 92/23/EEC as amended by Directive 2001/43/EC.

These Regulations implement Article 10a(5) of Council Directive 92/23/EEC of 31 March 1992 (OJ No. L129, 14.5.1992, p.95) as amended by Directive 2001/43/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 27 June 2001 (OJ No. L.211, 4.8.2001, p.25) (“Tyres Directive”) relating to tyres for motor vehicles and their trailers and to their fitting. In particular, Article 10a(5) prohibits the entry into service and sale of tyres that do not meet the requirements set out in Annex II and V of the Tyres Directive. Prohibitions on the entry into service and sale of tyres that fail to meet the EC type approval requirements in Annex II are already in place. These Regulations transpose the prohibition on the sale of tyres that do not comply with the noise emission requirements in Annex V. Regulation 30A places a construction and use requirement on replacement tyres ensuring that they are marked to show compliance with the requirements of the Tyres Directive. It is an offence to supply tyres that do not meet construction and use requirements by virtue of Article 84 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.

Regulation 2 inserts regulation 30A into the 1999 Regulations. Paragraph (1) of regulation 30A provides that replacement tyres for certain vehicles must be marked with an S mark to show that they comply with the requirements on noise emissions. Paragraph (2) delays the application of the S mark requirement for C1d and C1e tyres until 1st March 2011 and 1st October 2011 respectively. Paragraph (3) lists those tyres that are exempt from the requirements of paragraph (1). For the purpose of these Regulations, a replacement tyre is any tyre sold, or intended to be sold, on or after these Regulations come into operation, or in the case of C1d and C1e tyres, sold or intended to be sold on or after the date from which these Regulations apply to them. This definition of a replacement tyre is included in paragraph (4) along with the other definitions.

Regulation 3 amends Table I of Schedule I to the 1999 Regulations by adding Directive 2001/43/EC and amends Table II of Schedule I to the 1999 Regulations by adding UNECE Regulation 117.

European Directives may be downloaded without charge from the European Union Law Website (EURLEX): http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm.

A transposition note setting out how these Regulations transpose the provisions of the Tyres Directive is available from the Department of the Environment, Clarence Court, 10-18 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8GB and is annexed to the Explanatory Memorandum which is available alongside these Regulations on the OPSI website (www.opsi.gov.uk).