# The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2020, Note: Explanatory note


(This note is not part of the Regulations)
Directive 2003/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council provides for the initial qualification and periodic training of drivers of certain goods vehicles and passenger vehicles. This Directive was transposed by the Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) Regulations 2007 (“the 2007 Regulations”), which applies throughout the United Kingdom.
This instrument amends the 2007 Regulations to transpose amendments to the Directive and provide for the recognition of Swiss Certificates of Professional Competence. In particular—
(a) an explicit exclusion from the requirement to hold a Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC) is provided for ambulance drivers (regulation 2(2)(c) and (4)(a));
(b) existing exclusions are clarified – for example, the exclusion for emergencies/rescue missions includes the non-commercial transport of humanitarian aid (regulation 2(4));
(c) an exclusion is introduced for vehicles used by agricultural, horticultural, forestry, farming or fishery undertakings and driven by a person other than a professional driver (regulation 2(4)(f) and (g));
(d) certain outdated references are replaced – for example, regulation 11(2) of the 2007 Regulations refers to a “driver’s certificate”, which is now known as a “driver attestation” (regulation 2(10)(d));
(e) provisions to provide for the recognition of Swiss equivalents to the CPC, initial training and periodic training are introduced, including—
(i) requiring the competent authority to publish which documents and training will be recognised as equivalent;
(ii) allowing for a combination of UK or EU and Swiss training hours to be taken into account when determining if the minimum training has been completed;
(iii) excluding the holders of equivalent Swiss qualifications from liability for driving a vehicle without a UK or EU CPC (regulation 2(3) and (5) to (11));
(f) consequential amendments relating to the above changes are made (regulation 3).
A full Impact Assessment has not been produced for this instrument as it is not expected to have significant impact on the private, public or voluntary sectors. An Explanatory Memorandum and a transposition note have been prepared for these Regulations and are available alongside this instrument on the UK Legislation website at www.legislation.gov.uk.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/662/note (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/vehicle-drivers-certificates-of-professional-competence-amendment-regulations-2020/note
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.