§ Lord Reaasked Her Majesty's Government:
When the application of the civil penalty for carrying clandestine entrants to rail freight trains will be extended; when the amount of such a penalty will be set; when a code of practice for rail freight will be brought into operation; and whether a report on the consultation process will be published. [HL641]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonFollowing a formal consultation period, which ran from 13 November to 25 December 2000, the main set of regulations extending the civil penalty to rail freight (the Carriers' Liability (Clandestine Entrants) (Application to Rail Freight) Regulations 2001) has been laid before Parliament today, along with a draft code of practice. The main regulations come into force, for the purposes of making and laying two related instruments—namely the Carriers' Liability (Clandestine Entrants and Sale of Transporters) (Amendment) Regulations 2001 and the Carriers' Liability (Clandestine Entrants) (Code of Practice for Rail Freight) Order 2001—on 7 February 2001. The remaining provisions of the main regulations and the two related instruments will come into force on 1 March 2001.
The purpose of the main regulations is to enable penalties to be imposed in respect of clandestine entrants who arrive in the United Kingdom concealed in a rail freight wagon. The other two instruments provide respectively for the amount of the penalty (and certain procedural matters), and for the coming into operation of the Code of Practice.
A copy of the report, summarising the main responses to the consultation process, has been placed in the Library. Copies are also available on the Immigration and Nationality Directorate website at www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk.