MOTOR VEHICLES (INTERNATIONAL CIRCULATION) (AMENDMENT) ORDER 1969

HL Deb 23 July 1969 vol 304 cc1014-7

4.22 p.m.

LORD SHEPHERD rose to move, That the Draft Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) (Amendment) Order 1969, laid before the House on July 10, 1969, be approved. The noble Lord said: My Lords, this Order, which I commend to the House, amends an Order made in 1957 and subsequently amended in 1962 and 1968 by extending the exemption from vehicle excise duty at present afforded to visiting foreign private and public passenger vehicles to visiting foreign goods vehicles. This extension of exemption from our vehicle excise duty will enable the United Kingdom now to accede to the United Nations 1956 Convention on the taxation of road vehicles engaged in international goods transport. This, in conjunction with bilateral agreements which we have concluded or are in the course of negotiating with other countries which are not themselves party to the Convention, will secure benefits for our own goods vehicles visiting those other countries. Taken together, the Convention countries and the bilateral countries represent virtually all those in which our road hauliers are interested.

I am sure the House will approve of this useful step towards facilitating international trade. It will avoid double taxation and the time-consuming formalities involved in the present need to pay vehicle taxes when entering foreign countries. The balance of advantage in these arrangements lies in our favour. More of our vehicles go abroad than foreign ones come here. Therefore, our hauliers will be saved more in foreign taxes than the relief from our vehicle excise duty which the Order will afford to foreign vehicles coming here.

In terms, the significant part of the Order is Article 6. This amends Article 5 of the present Order by removing from the exemptions already afforded to visiting vehicles a qualification that a goods vehicle is only exempt if it is used for non-commercial purposes. Article 3 of the Order revokes an Order made in 1968 which exempted goods vehicles from Sweden and Turkey because this exemption is now embraced in a wider one afforded by the terms of Article 6. Article 5 is a technical drafting Amendment which replaces out-of-date reference to customs regulations by reference to a current customs order. My Lords, I commend the Order to the House as a useful measure which will be of considerable benefit to our hauliers engaged in international trade. I beg to move.

Moved, That the Draft Motor Vehicles (International Circulation) (Amendment) Order 1969, laid before the House on July 10, 1969, be approved.—(Lord Shepherd.)

LORD NUGENT OF GUILDFORD

My Lords, may I thank the noble Lord, Lord Shepherd, for telling us the purpose of this Order, and may I give him my support for it, particularly as it so obviously benefits the general process of international trade, which is developing so favourably for us in Europe. I am sure that all noble Lords heard with interest and approval that more of our goods vehicles go abroad than goods vehicles from abroad come here; so this particular agreement not only is good for trade but in every way should be welcomed in exempting excise duty for goods vehicles coming here.

I wonder whether the noble Lord, with his considerable knowledge of transport matters, can tell us what happens with regard to the general laws here governing the operation of commercial vehicles—for instance, the 1968 Act with regard to special authorisations? If this is introduced, will the large-sized foreign vehicle travelling a distance over 100 miles in this country have to obtain a licence under Clause 71 of the 1968 Act? Similarly, with regard to drivers' hours. Are the drivers of the foreign vehicles subject to the regulations which will be made under the 1968 Act, and, if so, is the Ministry intending to bring our regulations into line with the Common Market regulations which are being hammered out? It would help to fill in the picture, although it is a little outside the Order, if the noble Lord would kindly deal with those points.

LORD SHEPHERD

My Lords, as I understand it, this Order deals merely with the excise tax. However, a foreign company bringing vehicles into this country will still require a carrier's licence, which the noble Lord himself is familiar with; and of course the various requirements—size of vehicle, safety factor, and I am certain, too, the hours of driving—are all governed within this general ambit of the carrier's licence. This Order merely exempts the company from this time-consuming operation of getting a licence every time a vehicle enters this country. This is very important with the tremendous development of what is called roll-on and roll-off of vehicles.

My Lords, I hope that the House will therefore give this Order its approval.

On Question, Motion agreed to.