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23 1963

FINANCE ACT, 1963

PART II.

Customs and Excise.

Temporary importation of motor vehicles without payment of customs duty.

29. —(1) The Minister for Finance may make regulations providing for the temporary importation of motor vehicles without payment of customs duty, in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the regulations.

(2) Where a person contravenes, whether by act or omission, a condition under a regulation under this section, such person, without prejudice to any other penalty to which he may be liable, shall be guilty of an offence under the Customs Acts and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a penalty of one hundred pounds; and the motor vehicle shall be liable to forfeiture and the offender may either be detained or proceeded against by summons.

(3) For the purposes of this section “motor vehicle” means a mechanically propelled vehicle (including a bicycle and a tricycle) which derives its motive power from an internal combustion engine or from an electric motor and includes any vehicle which is designed, constructed and suitable for traction on a road by a mechanically propelled vehicle.

Deferment of payment of beer duty.

30. —The power under section 16 of the Inland Revenue Act, 1880, and the Finance Act, 1918, to defer the time for payment of beer duty may, in the case of lager beer which is kept for a period of at least three months in the premises in which it is brewed, be exercised so as to permit payment of duty on the beer to be deferred to a date not later than the 25th day of the fourth month after the month in which the duty was charged.

Relief by order from customs duties.

31. —(1) The Minister for Finance, whenever he considers that it is necessary or expedient to relieve any goods from customs duties chargeable with a view to conforming with an international convention or agreement to which the State is a party and which relates to matters other than commercial relations, may by order provide for the relief of those goods from all or any of those duties in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order.

(2) An order made under this section may provide for the repayment of any duty paid on goods provided that the goods could, on the date on which the duty was paid, have been imported or delivered without payment of duty in accordance with an order made under this section.

(3) Where a person contravenes, whether by act or omission, a condition specified in an order under this section, such person, without prejudice to any other penalty to which he may be liable, shall be guilty of an offence under the Customs Acts and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a penalty of one hundred pounds; and any article in respect of which the offence was committed shall be liable to forfeiture and the offender may either be detained or proceeded against by summons.

(4) The Minister for Finance may by order revoke or amend an order made under this section.

(5) Every order made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days upon which that House has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

Amendment of section 2 (2) of Betting Act, 1931 .

32. —Subsection (2) of section 2 of the Betting Act, 1931 , is hereby amended by the substitution of “one hundred pounds” for “five hundred pounds”.

Dog duty—general licence.

33. —(1) Any person who is liable to pay dog duty may elect to pay an annual sum of £10 in respect of such duty in lieu of the rate specified in subsection (1) of section 37 of the Finance Act, 1925 , and this amount shall be paid and collected through the Post Office by means of a general licence to be taken out annually by such person.

(2) Any person who pays a sum of £10 and takes out a general licence in accordance with this section shall be deemed to have paid dog duty in respect of all dogs kept by him during the whole or any part of the year to which the general licence relates.

(3) Any reference to a licence in section 38 of the Finance Act, 1925 , shall be construed as including a reference to a general licence provided for by this section.

(4) The foregoing subsections of this section shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1964.

Amendments relative to penalties.

34. —(1) Section 186 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, is hereby amended by the substitution of “whichever is the greater” for “at the election of the Commissioners of Customs”.

(2) Subsection (1) of section 3 of the Customs Act, 1956 , is hereby amended by the substitution of “whichever is the greater” for “at the election of the Revenue Commissioners”.

(3) Where in any enactment of the Customs Acts, other than the enactments specified in the foregoing subsections of this section, there occurs a provision under which the Revenue Commissioners may elect between alternative penalties, the enactment shall have effect as if, instead of providing for such election, it provided for the imposition of the greater of the penalties.

(4) The following provisions shall, notwithstanding any other enactment, have effect in relation to an offence under section 186 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, section 3 of the Customs Act, 1956 , or any enactment of the Customs Acts amended by subsection (3) of this section—

(a) an estimated value of the goods shall be stated in the summons, information or charge,

(b) the defendant may, by notice to the prosecution given before the commencement of the period of four days ending immediately before the date fixed for the hearing of the proceedings in the District Court (or given later by permission of that Court), challenge the estimated value,

(c) if the estimated value is not challenged—

(i) in case treble the estimated value exceeds one hundred pounds, the offence shall be tried on indictment, and

(ii) at the trial of the offence, whether on indictment or summarily, the estimated value shall be taken conclusively as being the value of the goods, without any further evidence of that value,

(d) if the estimated value is challenged—

(i) the justice of the District Court shall, before proceeding with the hearing, determine the value of the goods and the value so determined shall be final and not appealable,

(ii) where treble the value so determined exceeds one hundred pounds, the offence shall be tried on indictment,

(iii) at the trial of the offence, whether on indictment or summarily, the value so determined shall be taken conclusively as being the value of the goods, without any further evidence of that value,

(e) in estimating or determining pursuant to this subsection the value of the goods, that value shall be taken as the price which the goods might reasonably be expected to have fetched, after payment of any duty chargeable thereon, if they had been sold on the open market at or about the date of the commission of the offence.

(5) An offence under any enactment of the Customs Acts, other than an enactment referred to in the foregoing subsections of this section, shall be tried on indictment if the penalty exceeds or may exceed one hundred pounds.

(6) Nothing in the foregoing subsections of this section shall prevent—

(a) any action or other proceeding being brought under section 38 of the Finance Act, 1924 , or

(b) any action, information or proceeding being brought in the High Court under section 11 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1879.

(7) In any application of subsection (4) of this section in relation to section 15 of the Tobacco Act, 1840, or section 106 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876—

(a) the references in the subsection to the value of the goods shall be construed as references to the amount or value of drawback sought or claimed,

(b) paragraph (e) of the subsection shall not apply.

(8) In every case tried on indictment by virtue of this section, the Attorney-General or the accused person shall be entitled on application to have the case sent forward to the Central Criminal Court.

(9) The definition of “Justice” in section 284 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, is hereby amended by the addition thereto of “and shall also, in relation to a case tried in the Central Criminal Court, be construed as including a reference to the judge of that Court”.

(10) Section 232 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, is hereby amended by the addition of the following sentence: “The requirement of committal contained in this section shall have effect subject to the proviso that there shall be a discretion to allow a period not exceeding three months for payment of the penalty and, where such a period is allowed, the offender shall not be committed if the penalty is paid during that period.”

(11) Section 1 of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1907, shall not apply in relation to offences under the Customs Acts.

Confirmation of Order.

35. —The Imposition of Duties (No. 133) (Matches) Order, 1963, is hereby confirmed.