# The Road Vehicles (Certificates of Temporary Exemption) Regulations 2020, Regulation 4: Issue of certificates


(1) The Secretary of State may issue a certificate of temporary exemption for a relevant vehicle—
(a) if exceptional circumstances prevent an examination of that vehicle taking place before its use on a road would give rise to an offence under a relevant provision; or
(b) if satisfied that an examination of that vehicle should be postponed for the purpose of mitigating the effects of exceptional circumstances on examinations generally.
(2) The Secretary of State, when deciding whether to issue a certificate under paragraph (1)(b), may take into account—
(a) in any case—
(i) the age of the relevant vehicle;
(ii) the vehicle’s technical characteristics;
(iii) the nature of any goods that it is constructed or adapted to carry;
(b) in the case of a relevant vehicle used under an operator’s licence—
(i) the findings of any examination, or any inspection carried out under section 68 of the 1988 Act, of any relevant vehicle used under that licence;
(ii) enforcement action against the licence holder in relation to the obligations imposed on that person by any enactment as the holder of such a licence (“the relevant obligations”);
(iii) enforcement action against the driver of any vehicle used under that licence in relation to the use of that vehicle on a road;
(iv) the licence holder’s membership of a publicised scheme, administered by the Secretary of State, for persons demonstrating compliance with the relevant obligations;
(v) any action, direction or order, in relation to that licence or its holder, taken or made by a traffic commissioner under section 17 of the 1981 Act or section 26, 27 or 28 of the 1995 Act within the period of five years prior to the time of the Secretary of State’s consideration of the factors specified in this sub-paragraph.
(3) In this regulation—
“enforcement action” means criminal proceedings, the issue of a fixed penalty notice under section 54 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, the issue of a conditional offer under section 75 of that Act, or the imposition of a financial penalty deposit requirement under section 90A of that Act;
“exceptional circumstances” means an accident, a fire, an epidemic, severe weather, a failure in the supply of essential services or another unexpected event—
(a) including prior or subsequent disruption attributable, in whole or in part, to such an event; but
(b) excluding a breakdown of, or mechanical defect in, a vehicle or the absence of parts for repairing it.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/812/regulation/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/road-vehicles-certificates-of-temporary-exemption-regulations-2020/regulation-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.