Legal background Goods, passenger and public service vehicles
Certificates of exemption for public service and goods vehicles
	Sections 48(4) and 53(5) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 confer powers on the Secretary of State to make regulations governing the issue of certificates of temporary exemption, which allow a vehicle to be used on a road without a test certificate. .
	The test certificate requirement is imposed on the users of motor vehicles other than goods vehicles by section 47(1) and on the users of goods vehicles by section 53(1) and (2).
	Goods vehicles and public service vehicles adapted to carry more than eight passengers cannot (as a general rule) be used on a road unless a test certificate has been issued within the past year. Certificates of temporary exemption were issued to all such vehicles that were due to be tested from late March 2020 onwards following disruption to the testing regime caused by Covid-19. This disruption created excessive test demand in the following months as scheduled tests and delayed tests fall due.
	The Department for Transport and the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) have decided to manage this excessive demand in a manner that prioritises road safety. Certificates of temporary exemption will be issued for safer vehicles (such as newer vehicles kept by operators with high assessed standards) and the resulting capacity in the testing regime will ensure that vehicles with higher risk profiles or kept by operators with poor compliance records (as assessed by the DVSA) are tested on schedule.
	The existing powers in the Road Traffic Act 1988 allow for certificates of temporary exemption to be issued in prescribed circumstances. These powers are being expanded to provide a clear basis for taking factors such as the DVSA’s assessment of risk into account and to allow for the revocation of certificates (if, for example, a vehicle with a certificate is transferred to a less reputable operator).
	Issuing certificates of temporary exemption on the basis of the potential risk to road safety posed by particular vehicle operators will necessarily involve the exercise of judgement by the DVSA. Paragraph (c) of the inserted subsections (4A) and (5A) has been included to clearly allow for this. This is the most significant expansion of the enabling powers.
Temporary reduction in duration of certain driving licences
	For Great Britain the power to require a medical report is set out in legislation.
Reference: Regulation 10(5) of the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) Regulations 1999
An applicant for a Group 2 licence shall, if required to do so by the Secretary of State, submit in support of his application a report (in such form as the Secretary of State may require) signed by a qualified medical practitioner, prepared and dated not more than four months prior to the date on which the licence is to take effect, for the purpose of satisfying the Secretary of State that he is not suffering from a relevant or prospective disability.
	In accordance with this provision, there is already the power to waive the requirement for a signed medical report.
	However, the periods for which licences can be issued are set out in primary legislation. These refer to both the administrative validity period (AVP) of a licence, and the underlying age-related period for which a licence can remain in force, known as the "entitlement period" to drive a particular category of vehicle. Whatever AVP a licence is issued for, it legally expires at the point that the driver’s age-related entitlement expires. The requirement for a medical report is linked to the first issue of a licence and its renewal after the age of 45.
	The duration of licences is governed by provisions in the Road Traffic Act:
Reference: Section 99(1A) of the Road Traffic Act 1988
In so far as a licence authorises its holder to drive any prescribed class of goods vehicle or passenger-carrying vehicle, it shall, unless previously revoked, suspended or surrendered, remain in force-
(a) except in a case falling within paragraph (c) or (d) of this subsection-
i) for the period ending on the forty-fifth anniversary of the applicant’s date of birth or for a period of five years, whichever is the longer, or
(ii) where the applicant’s age at the date on which the licence is to come into force will exceed forty-five but not sixty-five years, for the period ending on the sixty-sixth anniversary of the applicant’s date of birth or for a period of five years, whichever is the shorter,
(b) except in a case falling within paragraph (d) of this subsection, where the applicant’s age at that date will exceed sixty-five years, for a period of one year,
(c) except in a case falling within paragraph (b) or (d) of this subsection, if the Secretary of State so determines in the case of a licence to be granted to a person appearing to him to be suffering from a relevant or prospective disability, for such period of not more than three years and not less than one year as the Secretary of State may determine, and
(d) in the case of a licence granted in exchange for a subsisting licence and in pursuance of an application requesting a licence for the period authorised by this paragraph, for a period equal to the remainder of that for which the subsisting licence was granted,
and any such period shall begin with the date on which the licence in question is expressed to come into force.
	The duration of licence entitlement from age 45 is generally governed by section 99(1A)(a)(ii) and is 5 years. Once the driver reaches 65, it is governed by section 99(1A)(b) and is already 1 year. There is also a power to issue licence entitlement for 1 year under section 99(1A)(c) of the Act, but this only applies where it is identified that the licence holder has a relevant medical condition. There is no provision in law to manage road safety risks by limiting the duration of licence entitlement where it is governed by section 99(1A)(a)(ii).