# Summary

- Link: https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/aarto-bill/summary/
- Published: 2019-10-15T11:21:24+02:00
- Author: dearSA

[ HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE AARTO BILL](https://dearsouthafrica.co.za/aarto-bill/)

Summary provided by [Justice Project South Africa](https://www.jp-sa.org)

 * Draft regulations in respect of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic
   Offences (AARTO) Amendment Act are inconsistent with the Constitution and are
   likely to result in further legal challenges.
 * The draft regulations provide a more complete picture which should have been 
   available during the public consultation phases, but they go far beyond merely
   amending the existing regulations – they repeal all the existing regulations 
   and create an entirely new set of regulations.
 * Although an Act is passed by Parliament, regulations may be made by the Minister
   without the scrutiny of the legislature. This practice is flawed and allowed 
   regulation without Parliamentary oversight.
 * The foundations of the AARTO Act itself are already set to face a constitutional
   challenge brought by Dembovsky in April 2018. That matter is to be heard in the
   Pretoria High Court in early 2020 and is largely unaffected by the AARTO Amendment
   Act, which is likely to face its own legal challenges.
 * At a first reading, the regulations appear to have been rushed to completion 
   and leave many details to the discretion of functionaries and institutions instead
   of providing clarity on exactly how the processes outlined in the AARTO Amendment
   Act are to function.
 * In particular, the regulations virtually ensure that road users seeking to challenge
   infringement notices will be confronted with onerous bureaucratic hurdles.
 * In JPSA’s view, a comment period of 30 days is far too short to allow thorough
   public scrutiny of a complete re-write of regulations pertaining to the recent
   extensive re-write of the AARTO Act,” he said. “Notwithstanding our encouragement
   to the public to submit their comments, we believe that the comment period should
   be extended substantially and call on the Department of Transport to do so.