Introduction Details of the Section
2.Subsection (1) removes the existing Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994 (VERA) provision of a five working days display waiver, when a keeper of a vehicle has applied for a new tax disc ahead of their existing disc’s expiry or ahead of the expiry of a period of statutory off-road notification.
3.Subsection (2) introduces new section 33A to VERA which defines the situations where a tax disc would otherwise have to be displayed, so as to include new vehicles and vehicles that have entered onto the UK register for the first time, vehicles that have changed keepership, vehicles that have been relicensed for continued use on the public road by an existing keeper, and vehicles where a replacement licence is needed.
4.These situations embrace the supply of new vehicles by motor dealers, the importation of vehicles by owners that are already or are intending to become permanently resident in the UK, used vehicle sales by and between private owners and by motor dealers where a tax disc is no longer present and a new disc has been applied for to enable a vehicle to be individually used on the public road, as well as the renewal of motor dealers’ trade licences.
5.New section 33A to VERA replicates the existing provision on the expiry cessation of a period of statutory off-road notification declared under section 22(1D) of the Act, but by omission removes reference to an annual basis to the declarations. The section also replicates and replaces an existing Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) Regulations 2002 display waiver provision for replacement tax discs whilst slightly widening its application to cover replacement trade licences.