Call for evidence on Home Office type approval of road traffic law enforcement devices
Updated 26 April 2024
Applies to England, Scotland and Wales
Introduction
This call for evidence (CFE) is to support a review of Home Office Type Approval (HOTA) of Road Traffic Law Enforcement Devices (RTLED) used by the police and other law enforcement agencies in Great Britain.
The CFE is designed to gain insights into stakeholder experiences of HOTA and to invite any suggestions for improvements that the Home Office could consider.
HOTA provides assurance that the device is accurate, precise, consistent and reliable and that its evidence can be relied on.
Under section 20 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988, in proceedings concerning certain traffic offences [footnote 1] records or measurements made by equipment for traffic law enforcement can be admissible as evidence subject to the following conditions: the equipment is a type approved by the Secretary of State and that any conditions subject to which the approval was given are satisfied.
The scope of this CFE will cover RTLEDs as described in “The Speedmeter, Traffic Light and Prohibited Lane Enforcement Camera Handbook v2.0.” The Handbook contains a description of the technical requirements to be met for consideration of type-approval of certain types of speed, traffic light and prohibited lane enforcement equipment which are prescribed devices for the purposes of the road traffic legislation. HOTA of breath testing devices and drug-testing devices are out of scope of this CFE.
You should note that any positions expressed do not necessarily represent current or future UK policy and that we will process your personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.
We will publish a high level summary of the responses after the survey has closed.
How to respond
The deadline for responses to the call for evidence is 11:59pm on 14 February 2024.
Reponses to the Welsh version of the call for evidence can be downloaded and emailed to: SandTAssurance@homeoffice.gov.uk
Disclosure of information
Information provided in response to this call for evidence, including personal information, may be published or disclosed in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004).
Footnotes
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The offences are listed in s20(2) Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. ↩