Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Jersey) Order 2003: Amendment: Law drafting instructions

Information about the publication of Ministerial Decisions

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demonstrating that good governance, and clear lines of accountability and authority, are in place around decisions-making – including the reasons and basis on which a decision is made, and the action required to implement a decision
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A decision made 29 September 2017:

Decision Reference: MD-T-2017-0085
Decision Summary Title :	Changes to the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Jersey) Order 2003 – Exchanging Foreign Driving Licences		Date of Decision Summary:	27 September 2017
Decision Summary Author:	Inspector of Motor Traffic		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title :	Changes to the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Jersey) Order 2003 – Exchanging Foreign Driving Licences		Date of Written Report:	27 September 2017
Written Report Author:	Inspector of Motor Traffic		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: Changes to the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Jersey) Order 2003 to accept for exchange, any driving licences which are acceptable for exchange in the UK and also to accept for exchange, letters of confirmation from relevant government departments.
Decision(s): The Minister approved changes to Schedule 5 of the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Jersey) Order 2003 to accept any full driving licence which is acceptable for exchange in the UK and to accept Letters of Entitlement from the relevant Government departments for driving licence exchange in Jersey.
Reason(s) for Decision: To increase the number of jurisdictions acceptable for driving licence exchange in Jersey and, in the public and business interest, to make it easier for people moving to live and work in Jersey to obtain a Jersey Driving licence.
Resource Implications: Law Drafting.
Action required: Head of DVS to inform the Law Draftsmen of the Minister’s decision and prepare the necessary law drafting instructions. Head of DVS to inform the Comite de Connétables of the Order changes.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Infrastructure
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Jersey) Order 2003: Amendment: Law drafting instructions

DEPARTMENT FOR INFRASTRUCTURE

EXCHANGE OF FOREIGN DRIVING LICENCES

SCHEDULE 5 MOTOR VEHICLES (DRIVING LICENCES) (JERSEY) ORDER 2003

Purpose of the report

To seek the support of the Minister for Infrastructure to agree changes to the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Jersey) Order 2003 to accept for exchange any driving licences which are acceptable for exchange in the UK and also to accept for exchange letters of confirmation from relevant government departments.

Background

1.0 Jersey currently has agreements with several jurisdictions to exchange driving licences although not all categories of licence may be exchangeable. The jurisdictions with which Jersey has an exchange agreement are: - The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Alderney, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Belgium, British Columbia, British Virgin Islands, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Falkland Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Iceland, Republic of Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Switzerland.

1.1 Those persons holding a foreign licence whose jurisdictions do not have exchange agreements with Jersey and need to obtain a Jersey licence, must pass the prescribed Jersey tests for the categories required and start at the beginning e.g. A1 not A, B not C1 etc.

Discussion

2.0 In addition to the agreement that the UK has with the EU it also has driving licence exchange agreements in place for Andorra, Canada, Faroe Islands, Republic of Korea, South Africa and Zimbabwe and is in consultation with the Cayman Islands. The testing standards for these jurisdictions have been assessed and approved by the DVLA.

2.1 Persons coming to live or work in Jersey from a jurisdiction that does not have an exchange agreement with Jersey who intend to stay for more than 12 months, must immediately obtain a Jersey provisional driving licence and take the prescribed theory and practical driving tests for each category required.

2.2 On account of varying driving test standards throughout the world, it is not practical for Jersey to have exchange agreements with every jurisdiction however it would be practical to follow the UK and agree to accept any driving licences which are acceptable for exchange in the UK. This would increase the number of jurisdictions acceptable for driving licence exchange in Jersey and in the public and business interest would make it easier for people moving to live and work in Jersey to obtain a Jersey driving licence.

Letters of Entitlement

3.0 Jersey currently only accepts full driving licences for exchange in Jersey, letters of entitlement, certificates, pass certificates, etc are not accepted.

3.1 People coming to live in Jersey who, for whatever reason, cannot produce their full licence are unable to obtain a duplicate from their country as they are no longer resident. They are however able to obtain a letter or certificate confirming that they have held in the last five years, a full driving licence and the categories they were entitled to drive.

3.2 The UK, Isle of Man and Guernsey accept Letters of Entitlement from relevant Government departments of jurisdictions with whom they have an exchange agreement. In the public and business interest of Jersey, it would be reasonable to follow the UK, Isle of Man and Guernsey and in addition to accepting full driving licences, accept Letters of Entitlement from relevant Government departments of that jurisdiction for driving licence exchange purposes.

2.4 The following requirements would have to be met:

i) Applicants must show that they did not obtain the licence by way of a previous exchange for one issued in a third country whose licensing and testing standards do not meet those applied in Great Britain.

ii) Licences issued as a result of a test passed in a vehicle with automatic transmission will be exchanged for a Jersey licence with entitlement to drive automatic vehicles only.

iii) Licences must be valid at the time of application.

vi) All exchanged licences and Letters of Entitlement must be returned to the relevant Government Department.

Recommendation

In the public and business interest of Jersey, the Minister is asked to agree changes to Schedule 5 of the Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Jersey) Order 2003 to accept any full driving licence which is acceptable for exchange in the UK and to accept Letters of Entitlement from the relevant Government departments for driving licence exchange in Jersey.

Reason for decision

This would increase the number of jurisdictions acceptable for driving licence exchange in Jersey and, in the public and business interest, would make it easier for people moving to live and work in Jersey to obtain a Jersey Driving licence.

Action Required

Head of DVS to inform the Law Draftsman of the Minister’s decision and draft the necessary law drafting instructions.

Head of DVS to inform the Comite de Connétables of the order changes.

Written by: Inspector of Motor Traffic

Approved by: Director of Transport