Part 1: Haulage Policy Background
The EU legal framework in relation to the international carriage of goods within the EU by way of road haulage is based on qualitative requirements which hauliers must meet in order to obtain a Community Licence. Assuming these are met, a Community Licence enables hauliers established in a Member State to carry goods internationally within the EU. Road haulage to or through non-EU countries operates, for the most part, under bilateral arrangements.
	Currently, a Community Licence for the international carriage of goods within the EU is issued by a traffic commissioner in Great Britain to any person who has been granted a Standard International Operator’s Licence on application, or by the Department for the Environment in Northern Ireland.
	The provisions in the Act provide for the Secretary of State to make regulations prohibiting the use of goods vehicle registered in the United Kingdom on an international journey specified in the regulations without an international road transport permit, providing that an international agreement to which the UK is a party provides for a permit to be carried on the specified international journey. Where the outcome of negotiations with the EU mean that existing Community Licence arrangements will no longer apply after the UK’s exit from the EU, the Act provides the Secretary of State with the powers to set up and enforce any alternative arrangements that may be agreed internationally, enabling the continued movement of goods to and from the EU by UK hauliers.
	The Act enables the Secretary of State to make regulations setting out the administrative procedure in respect of the grant of permits for specified international journeys, including the number of permits available, the application process, the criteria to be taken into account, and the procedures for varying, renewing or cancelling permits. The Act also enables the Secretary of State to put in place an appeals process in relation to the variation or cancellation of permits, and to charge fees for the application for, issue of, and variation of, a permit.
	The Act includes provisions for enforcement, allowing an examiner to inspect and copy a permit, in order to determine whether a vehicle is being used in keeping with the regulations made under section 1(1) or the permit requirements, and to detain a vehicle for that purpose. It also enables an examiner to prohibit the removal of a vehicle from the UK if it is breaching the regulations made under section 1(1) or the relevant permit requirements, and creates criminal offences to aid in the enforcement of those regulations.