Unregulated Entry with Quality Control / Legal Aspects / Monitoring and enforcement

Monitoring and enforcement
How quality control is enforced will depend in some measure on the kind of legal mechanism that was chosen by government to introduce quality control in the urban bus transport sector.

When mandatory quality control provisions are set out directly in a law or regulation, enforcement will take the form of prohibitions and penalties (fines, imprisonment or both).

Prohibitions and penalties

Prohibition to commence operating any kind of urban bus transport services unless the would-be bus operator is properly insured and has obtained a certificate of initial fitness with respect to his vehicles.

Penalties for failing to promptly repair any defect found in a vehicle used to provide urban bus transport services if the defect causes the vehicle to fall short of the prescribed quality requirements with respect to maintenance and use, for failure to maintain initial insurance coverage, for failure to arrange for preventive maintenance and inspection of vehicles at prescribed intervals of time or kilometers traveled.

When quality control is carried out by means of a license or permit, enforcement will have to rely heavily on the revocable nature of such legal instruments, subject as they are to temporary suspension or outright cancellation. Additionally, when minor breaches are involved that do not warrant the more severe remedy provided by the suspension or cancellation of the license or permit, the imposition of monetary fines may provide a sufficient mean of enforcement.

Similarly, when quality control is carried out by means of a contract, enforcement can also be accomplished by the threat of early termination or non-renewal of the contract. Here also the imposition of monetary fines may be sufficient to deal with minor infringements. The amount and grounds for the imposition of these fines need to be specifically provided for in the contract.

Finally it should be noted that when quality control is carried out by means of a license, permit or contract (even though no law or regulation is necessary to spell out specifically the mandatory quality control provisions that must be complied with by bus operators, and hence enforced to ensure proper compliance) there must still be a law, above and beyond the license, permit or contract, that provides for:

The basic proposition that anyone operating urban bus transport services without the required license, permit or contract is guilty of an offence, punishable by imprisonment, the payment of fines or both.

The party responsible for setting those mandatory quality control provisions and enforcing them.