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APPENDIX 2European Communities (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 1984 [S.I. No. 234 of 1984] EC4/201 Secretary, Department of the Environment. Re:— European Communities (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations 1984. [S.I. No. 234 of 1984] I am directed by Mr. Gerard Collins, T.D., Chairman of the Joint Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities to refer to the above Regulations. These Regulations purport to give effect to Council Directive No. 80/1263/EEC and in particular to Article 8 thereof. This Directive provides that Member States were to bring into force the necessary measures to comply with its provisions (with the exception of the issue of Community Model Licences) in time for the date of implementation i.e. 1 January 1983. The Regulations are expressed to have come into force from 1 October 1984. Section 3 (1) of the European Communities Act, 1972 enables a Minister of State to make Regulations to enable Acts adopted by the institutions of the European Communities to have “full effect”. I am to request your observations on the reasons it was not possible to give full effect to the Directive, not including the exception already referred to, by 1 January 1983. S. PHELAN Clerk to Joint Committee 11 March, 1985 Mr. S. Phelan, Clerk to Joint Committee on the Secondary Legislation of the European Communities, Leinster House, Dublin 2. Re:— European Communities (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 1984. I am directed by the Minister for the Environment to refer to your minute of 11 March, 1985 in connection with the implementation of Council Directive 80/1263/EEC in relation to Driver Licensing. The Directive provides for a number of measures as a first step towards the introduction of a Community Driving Licence. These include:— (1)Provision that a person who holds a valid national driving licence issued by a Member State of the EEC may, for a period of 12 months after he has taken up normal residence in the State, driving any vehicle which he is licensed by such licence to drive and within that 12 months apply for and be granted an equivalent national licence by his new State of residence on surrender of his existing national licence (Article 8). (2)A harmonisation of driver testing and driver licensing arrangements as between Member States by requiring that national laws and arrangements must comply with minimum standards laid down in the Directive (Article 6 and Annexes 11 and 111). (3)The introduction of a “Community model” licence (Articles 1 to 4 and Annex 1). Provisions as at (1) and (2) above were required to be in force by 1 January 1983. The provision at (3) is required to be in force by 1 January 1986. As regards Article 8 of the Directive, this Department had maintained up to November 1983 that existing law substantially met the requirements of the Directive in that since 11 October 1979 Irish road traffic regulations had provided for the granting of an Irish driving licence, without the requirement to obtain a certificate of competence (pass the driving test) to a person who held a valid driving licence issued by another Member State of the European Communities. Following a communication from the Commission in November 1983 to the effect that a number of amendments to Irish law were necessary to give effect to the Directive, the Department accepted that the requirements of Article 8 had not been fully met in hat there was no provision for 12 months recognition of other Member States’ licences nor for the surrender procedure where an Irish licence was being granted. Drafting of the necessary regulations was then put in hands. After the drafts had been cleared with the Commission, the regulations were brought into force on 1st October, 1984. The European Communities (Licensing of Drivers) Regulations, 1984 (S.I. No. 234 of 1984) give effect to the one year recognition clause of Article 8 of the Directive. The Road Traffic (Licensing of Drivers) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations (S.I. No. 233 of 1984) updated the 1979 Regulations so as to provide for the surrender procedure. As regards Article 6 and Annexes 11 and 111 of the Directive, the Department had maintained that the Irish driving test and the physical and mental aptitude requirements for the granting of Irish driving licences were not substantially less stringent than those set out in Annexes 11 and 111, respectively. The Commission arranged early in 1983 for the French road safety research body (ONSER) to conduct a comparative study of the laws of Member States to assist the Commission in determining the extent to which these laws met the requirements of the Directive. Detailed information was provided by Ireland on 26 September 1983 to ONSER for the purposes of this study. On 13 January, 1984 Ireland reiterated to the Commission its view that the requirements of Annex 11 were being met. This has since been accepted by the Commission (subject to an amendment in the next edition of the “Rules of the Road” — which is in preparation — so that questions on rules on working hours and rest times may be included among the questions likely to be asked during the oral part of the driving test for lorry and bus drivers) and is no longer an issue. As regards Annex 111, on 13 January 1984 it was indicated to the Commission that Ireland was awaiting the English text of the ONSER study report to facilitate a re-examination of the extent to which the requirements of Annex 111 of the Directive were or were not being met by current Irish legal provisions. Subsequent correspondence from the Commission (17 April 1984) indicated that on the basis of the Commission’s interpretation of the findings of the ONSER study, a number of legislative amendments were necessary to bring Irish law into line with Annex 111. Ireland had also taken the view (conveyed to the Commission on 10 September 1984) that the findings of a sub-group of experts, which it was proposed to set up to deal with the harmonisation of physical and mental aptitude requirements for driver licensing could have an important bearing on any legislative changes required in Member States, including Ireland. In a letter of 24 October 1984, the Commission expressed the view that necessary changes in Irish legislation could not be deferred pending the outcome of the deliberations of this sub-group. Finally, the English text of the ONSER study report (which had been requested on a number of occasions) was not furnished by the Commission to this Department until the end of October, 1984. In the light of the foregoing, it will be noted that the nature and extent of revisions which it would be necessary to make in Irish law only became clear towards the end of 1984. In a “Reasoned Opinion” delivered by the Commission on 11 February 1985, the Commission sought implementation of Annex 111 by 11 April 1985. The Commission has been advised that, in the light of the circumstances outlined above and with due regard to the fact that the necessary provisions required to bring Irish law into line with Annex 111 are both substantial and complex in nature, it would not be to possible to meet the requirements to bring the provisions into effect by 11 April. Assurances have, however, been given to the Commission that necessary consultations (with medical advisers including those in the Departments of Health and Labour as well as the Medical Bureau of Road Safety) will be completed as soon as possible and that work is already in hands on the preparation of the legal provisions as well as the administrative procedures which will be necessary to give effect to them and that a draft of these provisions will be forwarded to the Commission as soon as it is available. N.S. KELLY Principal, Driver Control Section 3 May 1985. |
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