Automated Vehicles Act 2024

24False or withheld information relevant to vehicle safety

(1)A person commits an offence if—

(a)the person is, or is seeking to become, a regulated body,

(b)the person provides to the Secretary of State—

(i)information about a vehicle for which the person is, has been, or is seeking to become responsible, or

(ii)other information in connection with the person’s role (or proposed role) as a regulated body, and

(c)the information is false or misleading in a respect in which it is relevant to the safety of the person’s automated vehicle operations.

(2)Subsections (3) and (4) apply where—

(a)a person is, or is seeking to become, a regulated body,

(b)the person is required by—

(i)a regulatory requirement, or

(ii)an information notice under section 17,

to provide information to the Secretary of State, and

(c)the information is relevant to the safety of the person’s automated vehicle operations.

(3)That person commits an offence if the person fails to provide the information as required.

(4)Any person commits an offence if—

(a)the person destroys, suppresses or alters, or causes or permits the destruction, suppression or alteration of, the information, and

(b)the person does so with the intention of preventing the provision of accurate information in accordance with the requirement or notice concerned.

(5)In subsection (4)—

(a)the reference to the information includes anything in or on which that information is recorded;

(b)the references to suppressing information include destroying the means of reproducing information recorded otherwise than in a legible form.

(6)For the purposes of this section, information is relevant to the safety of a person’s automated vehicle operations if it would affect a reasonable observer’s assessment—

(a)in the case of a person who is, or is seeking to become, an authorised self-driving entity, of how safely a vehicle for which the person is (or would be) the authorised self-driving entity is likely to travel while an authorised automation feature is engaged, or

(b)in the case of a person who is, or is seeking to become, a licensed no-user-in-charge operator, of how safely a vehicle is likely to undertake a no-user-in-charge journey that is overseen by the person.

(7)It is a defence for a person accused of an offence under subsection (1) or (3) to prove that the person took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence.

(8)A person who commits an offence under this section is liable—

(a)on summary conviction in England or Wales, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding the general limit in a magistrates’ court or a fine (or both);

(b)on summary conviction in Scotland, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum (or both);

(c)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or a fine (or both).