{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/vehicle-drivers-certificates-of-professional-competence-regulations-2007/regulation-4",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/vehicle-drivers-certificates-of-professional-competence-regulations-2007/regulation-4.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/2007/605",
  "legislation_title": "The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) Regulations 2007",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/vehicle-drivers-certificates-of-professional-competence-regulations-2007",
  "path": "regulation/4",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "4",
  "heading": "Persons who must take initial CPC test",
  "text": "(1) Except where paragraph (5) , (9) or (9A) applies and subject to paragraph (7), a person to whom these Regulations apply is not permitted to drive a relevant vehicle on a road on or after the date specified in paragraph (3) unless he has successfully completed the appropriate initial CPC test or Swiss initial CPC test.\n(2) For the purposes of this regulation—\n(a) the appropriate initial CPC test or Swiss initial CPC test is the test relating to vehicles of the category into which that particular relevant vehicle falls;\n(b) where Article 5(4) of Section 1 (certificate of professional competence: initial qualification) of Part B of Annex 31 to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement applies, the appropriate initial CPC test must comply with the last paragraph of Section 2.2 (compulsory initial qualification provided for in point (a) of Article 3(1) of Section 1 of Part B of Annex 31: practical test) of Appendix 31-B-1-1 to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.\n(3) The specified date is 10th September 2008 in respect of vehicles in licence category D or D+E and 10th September 2009 in respect of vehicles in licence category C or C+E.\n(4) A person may take the initial CPC test whether or not he has been granted a driving licence for a relevant vehicle.\n(5) This paragraph applies where—\n(a) a person is undergoing a vocational training course leading to a professional qualification relevant to the carriage by road of passengers or goods (or both) and which is approved by the competent authority as a course to which this paragraph applies;\n(b) that course lasts at least six months;\n(c) that person has produced to the competent authority's satisfaction such evidence as that authority may reasonably require that he is undergoing such a course;\n(d) the competent authority has issued that person with a document authorising him to drive that relevant vehicle for a specified period of up to 12 months while undertaking such a course; and\n(e) that person is driving within the United Kingdom.\n(5A) A person who wishes the competent authority to issue an NVT certificate to him under paragraph (5)(d) must make a written application to the competent authority and pay to it a fee of £25.\n(5B) The competent authority may waive in whole or in part the fee payable under paragraph (5A).\n(6) The competent authority may authorise a person under paragraph (5)(d) in respect of only one specified period.\n(7) A person is not required to take an initial CPC test relating to vehicles of the category into which that particular relevant vehicle falls if he holds a document described in paragraph (8) —\n(a) on 10th September 2008, if that vehicle falls into category D or D+E;\n(b) on 10th September 2009, if that vehicle falls into category C or C+E.\n(8) That document may be —\n(a) a current driving licence;\n(b) a current driving licence issued by a member State...;\n(c) a current driving licence recognised as equivalent to a document described in sub-paragraph (a) or (b); or\n(d) a current test pass certificate entitling its holder to a driving licence authorising the driving of any relevant vehicle.\n(9) This paragraph applies where a person holds—\n(a) a CPC certifying an initial qualification for the purposes of point (a) of Article 6(1) of Section 1 (certificate of professional competence: CPC certifying the initial qualification awarded on the basis of course attendance and a test) of Part B of Annex 31 to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, or\n(b) a written record certifying an initial qualification obtained in a specified EEA state or Gibraltar, as the case may be, and recognised by the competent authority as equivalent to a CPC certifying an initial qualification referred to in sub-paragraph (a).\n(9A) This paragraph applies where a person holds a Swiss initial CPC certifying a qualification which is recognised by the competent authority as equivalent to the qualification referred to in paragraph (9).\n(10) A person who has passed the initial CPC test or Swiss initial CPC test in respect of a vehicle which falls within—\n(a) category C or C+E, or\n(b) category D or D+E,\nneed not take another initial CPC test or Swiss initial CPC test to drive any relevant vehicle that falls within the other category referred to in the same sub-paragraph.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4(1) substituted (22.7.2020) by The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/662), regs. 1, 2(5)(a)(i)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F2",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4(1) inserted (22.7.2020) by The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/662), regs. 1, 2(5)(a)(ii)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F3",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4(2)(a) inserted (22.7.2020) by The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/662), regs. 1, 2(5)(b)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F4",
      "text": "Reg. 4(2)(b) substituted (3.12.2024 except in so far as it relates to national return to driving courses, 1.2.2025 in so far as not already in force) by The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (S.I. 2024/1160), regs. 1(2)(3), 5(a) (with reg. 26)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F5",
      "text": "Reg. 4(5A)(5B) inserted (1.9.2008) by The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2008 (S.I. 2008/1965), regs. 1(1), 5"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F6",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4(8)(b) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1004), regs. 1, 5; 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F7",
      "text": "Reg. 4(9) substituted (3.12.2024 except in so far as it relates to national return to driving courses, 1.2.2025 in so far as not already in force) by The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (S.I. 2024/1160), regs. 1(2)(3), 5(b) (with reg. 26)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F8",
      "text": "Reg. 4(9A) inserted (22.7.2020) by The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/662), regs. 1, 2(5)(c)"
    },
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F9",
      "text": "Words in reg. 4(10) inserted (22.7.2020) by The Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/662), regs. 1, 2(5)(d)"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/605/regulation/4",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T04:00:40.735640+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}