Secondary Legislation relating to the HGV Road User Levy Act 2013The United Kingdom Parliament passed the HGV Road User Levy Act on 28 February 2013. This legislation introduces a specific time based charge for the use of the United Kingdom road network by Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs) weighing 12 tonnes and over, and fulfils a commitment made in the Coalition Programme for Government.
The key objective of the new law is to ensure a fairer arrangement for UK hauliers. Currently, foreign-registered HGVs do not pay to use the road network in the United Kingdom, whereas UK-registered HGVs pay charges or tolls in most other European countries.
As the levy is an excepted matter under the provisions of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, responsibility for its implementation rests with the Department for Transport. However, the Department of the Environment is required to introduce some limited new secondary legislation relating to the HGV Road User Levy Act 2013 onto the Northern Ireland statute book, and as part of this process we are holding a consultation on these requirements in two subject areas, each of which is dealt with separately in this document:
- Financial Deposits and Penalties
- Vehicle Construction and Use (changes to weight bands)
It is important to stress that the Department can consider some of the implementation details as regards these matters, but is required by the UK legislation to ensure the appropriate update to the Northern Ireland statute book.