The Trailer Registration Regulations 2018
The Haulage Permits and Trailer Registration Act 2018 conferred powers on the Secretary of State to establish a registration scheme for trailers kept or used on roads and create offences relating to that scheme. These Regulations—specify the criteria and procedure for registration, the particulars to be provided and the registration fee (regulation 4);prohibit the keeping or use of unregistered trailers in certain categories on journeys to or through countries outside the United Kingdom that have ratified the 1968 Convention on Road Traffic (regulation 5);govern the issue, expiry, replacement and renewal of documents relating to the registration of a trailer (regulations 6, 7 and 9);specify the Secretary of State’s powers to ensure the accuracy of the register and impose a duty on registered keepers to notify the Secretary of State of inaccuracies (regulation 8);impose a duty on registered keepers to notify the Secretary of State of the disposal of a registered trailer and set out how a new/subsequent keeper may become the registered keeper (regulation 10);require that information, etc., provided to the Secretary of State in pursuance of these Regulations is provided via a digital service, with specified exceptions (regulation 11);authorise examiners and stopping officers to require the production of a trailer registration document (regulation 12);provide for inspections of trailers and matters related to the outcomes of such inspections (regulations 13 and 14);require the Secretary of State to assign a registration mark (more commonly known as a registration number) to a registered trailer and allow for marks to be reassigned or withdrawn (regulation 15);specify the shape, size and spacing of the characters in the registration mark and the physical characteristics and placement of the registration plate that bears the mark, and impose a duty to fix a plate on a registered trailer (regulations 16 and 17 and Schedule 2);amend the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 and the Vehicles Crime (Registration of Registration Plate Suppliers) Regulations 2008 to accommodate the introduction of the trailer registration scheme (regulation 18 and Schedule 3);create offences and provide appropriate defences relating to breaches of specified regulations (regulation 19), the keeping or use of an incorrectly registered trailer (regulation 20), the obscuring of registration marks (regulation 21), the obstruction or impersonation of a person entitled to carry out an inspection of a trailer (regulation 22) and providing false or misleading information, documents or declarations (regulation 23);permit a chief officer of police or the Secretary of State to require a person to identify a person suspected of a specified offence relating to the keeping or use of a trailer, or provide information that may lead to the identification of the suspected person, and create an offence of failing to do so (regulation 24);provide that any offence created under these Regulations is punishable by a maximum of a level 3 fine on summary conviction (regulation 25);allow for admissions and records held by the Secretary of State in relation to these Regulations to be admissible in legal proceedings (regulations 26 and 27); andrequire the Secretary of State to carry out a review of these Regulations from time to time (regulation 3).