UK Law and Practice Contributed by: James Backhouse, Jonathon Backhouse, Andrew Woolfall and Mark Davies, Backhouse Jones
7.2 Access and Abuse of Dominance No content provided in this jurisdiction. 7.3 State Aid and Subsidies No content provided in this jurisdiction. 7.4 Vertical Integration Regulators in the transport sector do not have a spe - cific jurisdiction on this. 8. Environmental Regulation and Decarbonisation 8.1 Emissions Standards In relation to heavy goods vehicles, emissions stand - ards are the same as those across Europe. The current standard is Euro 6; Euro 7 is due to be launched by the end of 2026. 8.2 Electrification and Alternative Fuels In the haulage sector, there are incentives to encour - age the adoption of electric vehicles. For example, many urban areas operate Clean Air Zones (CAZs), where emissions charges apply to higher-emission vehicles, while qualifying zero-emission vehicles are exempt from these charges. In addition, some private- sector organisations and supply chains have intro - duced procurement policies or contractual require - ments that encourage or require the use of low- or zero-emission fleets. At present, we are not aware of any nationwide fund - ing scheme specifically supporting the purchase of low- or zero-emission vehicles in the haulage sector comparable to those available for buses. As alluded to earlier, however, in the bus sector, a number of funding programmes are available to sup - port both the acquisition of zero-emission buses and the associated infrastructure required to operate them. These schemes are primarily focused on electrification and include initiatives such as the ZEBRA programme. 8.3 Environmental Permitting Which environmental approvals are required for infra - structure development is dependent on the nature, scale and location of the proposed works. In general,
the relevant planning permissions and environmen - tal consents required under planning legislation must be obtained. Furthermore, approval from the relevant electricity network operator or distribution network operator will be required where a new or upgraded electricity connection is required, along with any tech - nical assessments. 8.4 Carbon Pricing and Reporting On larger-scale contracts, both privately and govern - ment based, ESG and other carbon metrics are dis - closable as part of a tender process. 8.5 Environmental Review in Regulation No content provided in this jurisdiction. 8.6 Enforcement and Liability For breach of environmental laws, the fines are unlim - ited. 9. Safety and Technical Standards 9.1 Safety Regime For the haulage sector, the safety frameworks govern - ing road transportation are: • the government’s “Securing loads on HGVs and goods vehicles” guidance; and • the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. For the safe operation of vehicles on the road, the governing framework is set out in the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986, as enforced by bodies such as the police, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). 9.2 Accident Investigation The police, HSE and/or DVSA investigate major acci - dents or incidents. 9.3 Operator Obligations When an accident occurs, operators are required to stop, report the matter to the police and, in many cir - cumstances, also report the accident to the DVSA. The operator may also be obliged to report the acci - dent directly to the Office of the Traffic Commissioner.
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