There are a number of specific exemptions and national derogations from the EU rules. Exemptions apply regardless of where the vehicle is driven within the EU; whilst national derogations only apply on journeys wholly within the UK. The following information lists the exemptions and national derogations and provides advice on which might apply to goods vehicles.
NB: In some cases, it may be necessary to refer to case law for definitive interpretations.
Exemptions
Vehicles not capable of exceeding 40 km/ h.
For example, some works vehicles fall into this category. Also includes vehicles incapable of exceeding 40 km/ h by virtue of a set speed limiter.
Vehicles owned or hired without a driver by the Armed Forces, civil defence services, fire services and forces responsible for maintaining public order, when the carriage is undertaken because of the tasks assigned to these services and is under their control.
It does not apply to commercial operations contracted by these bodies.
Vehicles, including vehicles used in the non-commercial transport of humanitarian aid, used in emergencies or rescue operations.
The EU rules do not define an ‘emergency’ but we consider this would certainly include any of the situations that would be considered an emergency for the purposes of the GB domestic drivers’ hours legislation, namely a situation where immediate preventative action is needed to avoid:
Vehicles used in connection with emergency or rescue operations are exempt from the EU rules for the duration of the emergency.
The important aspect of humanitarian aid is that it only applies to transport carried out on a non-commercial basis e.g. transportation of donated clothes, food parcels etc. The aid supplied must however be in direct response to an emergency or rescue operation.
Non-commercial carriage is defined as any carriage by road, other than carriage for hire or reward or on own account, for which no direct or indirect remuneration is received and which does not directly or indirectly generate any income for the driver of the vehicle or for others and which is not linked to professional or commercial activity.
Find out more about the use of the emergency exemption.
Specialised vehicles used for medical purposes
These vehicles are constructed or adapted for use as mobile medical units for health screening, testing or treatment, such as mobile chest x-ray units.
Specialised breakdown vehicles operating within a 100 km radius of their base
‘Specialised breakdown vehicle’ was interpreted by the European Court as a vehicle whose construction, fitments and other permanent characteristics were such that it would be used mainly for removing vehicles that had recently been involved in an accident or broken down.
Vehicles undergoing road tests for technical development, repair or maintenance purposes, and new or rebuilt vehicles, which have not yet been put into service
It does not apply to vehicles going to or from testing stations for the purposes of an annual test.
(For the purposes of road testing and for taking a vehicle to annual test, this could include the carriage of ballast. However, under no circumstances can this include the commercial carriage of goods.)
Vehicles or combinations of vehicles with a maximum permissible mass not exceeding 7.5 tonnes used for the non-commercial carriage of goods
This would include the non-commercial carriage of any goods, such as a person driving a vehicle for their own personal use, for example, to move house or to transport goods as part of a leisure pursuit (for example, horses, rally cars or bikes).
Non-commercial carriage is defined as any carriage by road, other than carriage for hire or reward or on own account, for which no direct or indirect remuneration is received and which does not directly or indirectly generate any income for the driver of the vehicle or for others and which is not linked to professional or commercial activity.
Commercial vehicles that have a historic status according to the legislation of the Member State in which they are driven and that are used for the non-commercial carriage of goods.
In GB, a vehicle is a historic vehicle if it was manufactured more than 25 years before the occasion on which it is being driven.
Non-commercial carriage is defined as any carriage by road, other than carriage for hire or reward or on own account, for which no direct or indirect remuneration is received and which does not directly or indirectly generate any income for the driver of the vehicle or for others and which is not linked to professional or commercial activity.
Vehicles or combinations of vehicles with a maximum permissible mass not exceeding 7.5 tonnes used for specific purposes
This only includes:
Carrying materials, equipment or machinery would apply to tradesmen such as electricians or builders carrying tools or materials for their own use. A court case clarified that the terms ‘material or equipment’ covers not only tools and instruments, but also goods, which are required for the performance of the work, involved in the main activity of the driver.
Goods produced on a craft basis are hand-crafted items made with or without the aid of tools and produced on a small scale, such as sewing, weaving, carving, glassblowing, furniture making, baking, or pottery etc. Vehicles can be used to either deliver the craft items to an individual customer as part of the terms of the sale or to a place where the items are to be sold e.g. a shop, craft fair, market etc.
Note: The exemption for the carriage of craft goods does not apply to AETR regulated journeys, as the AETR Agreement has not yet been aligned with Regulation (EC) 561/2006.
European Commission special authorisation exemptions
The following vehicles are exempt from the EU rules in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) after the European Commission granted a special authorisation:
National derogations
The following national derogations apply to further specific uses of vehicles but only while on journeys wholly within the UK.
In some cases, it may be necessary to refer to case law for definitive interpretations.
Vehicles owned or hired without a driver by public authorities that do not compete with private transport undertakings.
The derogation only applies to vehicles being used:
Vehicles used or hired without a driver by agricultural, horticultural, forestry, farming or fishery undertakings for carrying goods as part of their own entrepreneurial activity within a radius of 100 km from the base of the undertaking.
This applies only to those who are an undertaking related to (ie in the business of) the activities of agricultural, horticultural, forestry, farming or fishery and are transporting goods in relation to that business. If an organisation has a division for one of the listed activities then the derogation would apply only to that division. If an organisation as a whole is neither an undertaking, nor has a separate division relating to the listed activities, but it nonetheless operates vehicles occasionally for such purposes the derogation would not apply to its use of vehicles for those occasional purposes.
For a vehicle used by a horticulture undertaking, the derogation would apply to the carriage of goods relating to the small-scale management of non-built-up land and which have a tangible link to horticulture so would include the carriage of plants, hard landscaping and fencing materials and related tools.
For a vehicle used by fishery undertakings, the derogation only applies if it is being used to carry live fish or to carry a catch of fish from the place of landing to a place where it is to be processed. The term ‘fish’ includes finfish and shellfish.
Agricultural tractors and forestry tractors used for agricultural or forestry activities within a 100 km radius from the base of the undertaking that owns, hires or leases the tractor.
Vehicles that are used to carry live animals between a farm and a market or from a market to a slaughterhouse where the distance between the farm and the market or between the market and the slaughterhouse does not exceed 100 km.
Vehicles being used to carry animal waste or carcasses that are not intended for human consumption.
The derogation applies to carriage of animal waste or carcasses, including fallen stock, from farms and abattoirs. “Animal waste” is deemed to be a substance or object that is discarded or is intended or required to be discarded and a “carcass” to mean the body of a dead animal. The derogation does not apply to animal derived products nor to waste from supermarkets, shops etc.
Specially fitted mobile project vehicles, the primary purpose of which is use as an educational facility when stationary.
For example, play buses and mobile libraries.
Vehicles or combinations of vehicles with a maximum permissible mass not exceeding 7.5 tonnes used by universal service providers.
Universal service providers as defined in Article 2(13) of Directive 96/67/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 1997 on common rules for the development of the internal market of Community postal services and the improvement of quality service to deliver items as part of the universal service.
These vehicles shall be used only within a 100 km radius of the base of the undertaking and on the condition that driving the vehicle does not constitute the driver’s main activity.
Currently the only universal service provider in the UK is the Royal Mail. Universal service provider vehicles must have a tachograph fitted.
Vehicles operated exclusively on islands not exceeding 2,300 square kilometres in area, which are not linked to the rest of Great Britain by a bridge, ford or tunnel open for use by a motor vehicle.
Vehicles used for the carriage of goods within a 100 km radius from the base of the undertaking and propelled by means of natural or liquefied gas or electricity, the maximum permissible mass of which, including the mass of a trailer or semi-trailer, does not exceed 7.5 tonnes.
Vehicles used for driving instruction and examination with a view to obtaining a driving licence or a certificate of professional competence, provided that they are not being used for the commercial carriage of goods or passengers
Includes instruction for renewal of Driver Certificate of Professional Competence (CPC).
Vehicles used in connection with sewerage, flood protection, water, gas and electricity maintenance services, road maintenance or control, door-to-door household refuse collection or disposal, telegraph or telephone services, radio or television broadcasting and the detection of radio or television transmitters or receivers.
There have been a number of significant court rulings from the European Court of Justice and British courts dealing with this exemption. Common themes have included a direct and close involvement in the exempt activity; the principle of a general service in the public interest; and the limited and secondary nature of the transport activity.
Sewerage, flood protection, water, gas and electricity maintenance services
It is DVSA’s view that vehicles used in connection with sewerage, flood protection, water, gas and electricity services must be involved in the maintenance of an existing service (rather than the construction of a new service) to claim the concession.
For vehicles used in connection with sewerage maintenance services the term “maintenance” also applies to the removal of waste from a system, but only where the waste is removed directly onto the vehicle and immediately taken away for treatment. This would also include transporting partially treated sewage from satellite sites to main sites.
The derogation does not apply to the movement of sewage sludge, which has been treated to make a product, which is then used for another purpose such as, for example, fertiliser.
Door-to-door household refuse collection or disposal
It is the Department for Transport’s view is that, in order to be considered as exempt from the EU rules on drivers’ hours and tachographs, a door-to-door household refuse collection and disposal operation should have the following characteristics:
(Type of vehicle is indicative only. In certain rural areas, for example, conventional goods vehicles may well be used for door-to-door collections of household waste.)
(The 50 kilometres is indicative only. Where a journey exceeds this, for example, in certain rural areas, DVSA will consider the case for exemption based on its merits. In addition, it makes no difference whether, having collected the waste, the vehicle takes its load to a nearby transfer station only, or continues to a final disposal site, the only determining factor being one of proximity.)
The types of refuse collection and disposal operations likely to be exempt are:
Road maintenance and control
Vehicles used in connection with road maintenance services which:
Such vehicles will fall within this derogation however; journeys to a site for the purpose of positioning the vehicle in readiness for engaging in the maintenance activity or for returning to base after the maintenance activity has ended will not fall within this derogation.
Vehicles, which are to be used or have been used that same day in connection with highway maintenance, control, and do not travel far from the site where the work of highway maintenance is being carried out, will fall within the derogation.
Radio or television broadcasting
Vehicles must be used for the actual activity of broadcasting (including streaming). Vehicles used for filming for later broadcast, or for support services such as catering, make up, wardrobe, showers/toilets etc will not be eligible for this derogation.
Specialised vehicles transporting circus and funfair equipment.
Specialised vehicles transporting circus or funfair equipment can also use this derogation for attending carnivals and festivals.
A court judgment determined that in order for catering vehicles or trailers to be able to use this derogation they must be specialised.
In the case of a specialised trailer, it is not necessary for the drawing vehicle to also be specialised. This means that a vehicle towing a catering/refreshment trailer would be deemed to be specialised as the trailer itself is specialised. However, a vehicle or trailer without any special features for carrying (rather than towing) a catering kiosk would not be deemed to be specialised.
A vehicle (with or without a trailer) transporting catering kiosks or any other equipment used for a purpose directly connected to a circus or funfair which is going to, for example, a local market, car boot sale, sporting event, shopping centre car park etc would not be entitled to claim this derogation.
Being a member of a guild or association (such as the Showman’s Guild or the Circus Proprietors Association) does not in itself give exemption to the EC drivers’ hours requirements as the equipment carried must still be funfair or circus equipment.
Vehicles used for milk collection from farms or the return to farms of milk containers or milk products intended for animal feed.
Vehicles used exclusively on roads inside hub facilities such as ports, airports, interports and railway terminals.
This applies only to those vehicles being used within the perimeter of these areas (rather than those driving to or through the areas), although we accept that these vehicles may occasionally leave the site for vehicle maintenance purposes.
Concession for members of a volunteer force and instructors in the Cadet Corps
There is also a concession in place from the daily and weekly rest requirements specified in the EU drivers’ hours regulations (but not from AETR rules) for professional drivers who are also members of a volunteer reserve force (e.g. the Army Reserve) or are an instructor in the Cadet Corps.
The conditions of the concession are:
No such concessions are available for those undertaking retained fire and rescue work, volunteer police work or voluntary emergency/rescue services (e.g. RNLI, mountain rescue) so activities of that nature can only be undertaken if they do not impact on legally required daily and weekly rest periods or if the situation is deemed to be an emergency as detailed Emergencies.
(The EU rules do not define an ‘emergency’ but DVSA consider this would certainly include any of the situations that would be considered an emergency for the purposes of the GB domestic drivers’ hours legislation, namely a situation where immediate preventative action is needed to avoid:
Vehicles used in connection with emergency or rescue operations would be exempt from the EU rules
for the duration of the emergency. However, drivers who have interrupted a rest period to attend an emergency would be required to commence/complete a qualifying rest period before recommencing work.)
NB: If it is exempt from the EU rules due to the provisions listed above then the vehicle will usually be in scope of the GB domestic rules when travelling in GB – see GB domestic rules.
Source – DVSA
