Clause 54 - Application of section 55
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill [Lords]
4:00 pm
Mr David Jamieson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Plymouth, Devonport, Labour)
It is a pleasure to appear in Committee before you this afternoon, Mr. Benton. It has also been a pleasure to listen to the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley, on her first outing in her new job. I seem to have survived eviction from the ''Big Brother'' household for another year, but I dare say that I might be nominated on another occasion.
Clause 54 describes when the duty to notify a driver's state of residence would apply, so that a disqualification imposed in the United Kingdom on a resident of another member state could be enforced under the EU convention. Clause 54(4) allows regulations to specify when the requirement to notify will not apply. That is necessary because article 6 of the convention allows member states to declare that they will always refuse to enforce a disqualification where the conduct does not constitute an offence in that state, where the driving disqualification would not be a measure available in that state for the conduct involved, or if the remaining period of disqualification is less than one month.
Regulations are required to detail the exact terms of the declaration made by the state concerned. The EU convention allows a member state—this is the important point for the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome—to declare that it will always apply the conditions in article 6(2)
''in part or in full''.
It may also withdraw from its declaration at any time.
The amendment is too broad. It would not discriminate in its application according to the terms of the declaration made by each state. That is why we need regulations—to take into consideration the different circumstances of individual states or changes in circumstances, which may occur from time to time. That is the reason for the provisions in the clause that we are discussing.
We do not know at this stage how many member states will make a declaration in respect of article 6(2). That will become clear only as and when other member states ratify the convention. We intend to seek agreements with those member states to allow us to implement the convention on a bilateral basis in advance of full implementation. Given the changing circumstances and considerable amount of flux, the part of the clause that we are discussing is required. I can assure the hon. Members for South-East Cambridgeshire and for Somerton and Frome that the Government have no ulterior motive in inserting the clause into the Bill.