PART II

Customs and Excise

13. —(1) In lieu of the duty of excise imposed by section 8 (1) of the Finance Act, 1966 , there shall be charged, levied and paid on all beer brewed within the State on or after the 12th day of April, 1967, a duty of excise at the rate of nineteen pounds, ten shillings and eight pence for every thirty-six gallons of worts of a specific gravity of one thousand and fifty-five degrees.

(2) In lieu of the duty of customs imposed by section 8 (2) of the Finance Act, 1966 , there shall, as on and from the 12th day of April, 1967, be charged, levied and paid on all beer of any description imported into the State, a duty of customs at the rate of nineteen pounds, eleven shillings and two pence for every thirty-six gallons of beer of which the worts were before fermentation of a specific gravity of one thousand and fifty-five degrees.

(3) There shall be allowed and paid on the exportation as merchandise or the shipment for use as stores of beer on which it is shown, to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners, that the duty imposed by subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section has been paid, a drawback calculated according to the original specific gravity of the beer, at the rate of nineteen pounds, ten shillings and eleven pence on every thirty-six gallons of beer of which the original specific gravity was one thousand and fifty-five degrees.

(4) Where, in the case of beer which is chargeable with the duty imposed by subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section or in the case of beer on which drawback under subsection (3) of this section is payable, the specific gravity of the beer is not one thousand and fifty-five degrees, the duty or drawback shall be varied proportionately.

(5) Section 24 of the Finance Act, 1933 , shall not apply or have effect in relation to the duty of customs imposed by this section.

14. —(1) Subject to the next subsection of this section, the duty of customs on tobacco imposed by section 20 of the Finance Act, 1932 , shall, as on and from the 12th day of April, 1967, be charged, levied and paid at the several rates specified in Part I of the First Schedule to this Act in lieu of the several rates specified in Parts II and III of the Third Schedule to the Finance Act, 1966 .

(2) (a) This subsection applies to manufactured tobacco which was manufactured in, and consigned from, the United Kingdom and was manufactured therein from materials other than materials falling within Tariff Heading number 24.02 in the Schedule to the Imposition of Duties (No. 159) (Customs Duties and Form of Customs Tariff) Order, 1966.

(b) The customs duty on tobacco mentioned in subsection (1) of this section shall, as on and from the 12th day of April, 1967, and before the 1st day of July, 1967, be charged, levied and paid on manufactured tobacco to which this subsection applies at the several rates specified in Part II of the First Schedule to this Act in lieu of the several rates specified in Part I thereof and shall, as on and from the 1st day of July, 1967, be charged, levied and paid on manufactured tobacco to which this subsection applies at the several rates specified in Part III of the First Schedule to this Act in lieu of the several rates specified in Parts I and II thereof.

(c) The provisions of section 8 of the Finance Act, 1919, shall apply to the duties imposed by this subsection—

(i) with the substitution of “the area of application of the Acts of the Oireachtas” for “Great Britain and Ireland” and as though the expression “manufactured tobacco” in the first column of the Second Schedule to that Act did not include manufactured tobacco to which this subsection applies,

(ii) as though manufactured tobacco to which this subsection applies, together with the descriptions of such manufactured tobacco in Part II or III (as may be appropriate) of the First Schedule to this Act, were mentioned separately in the said first column and the appropriate preferential rates specified in that Part were mentioned in the second column of the said Second Schedule opposite the mention of those goods in the first column thereof, and

(iii) subject to the last paragraph (beginning with “Goods shall not be deemed”) of subsection (1) of the said section 8 being disregarded.

(d) In this subsection the expression “the United Kingdom” means Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

(e) The expression “hard pressed tobacco” mentioned in Parts II and III of the First Schedule to this Act and the next paragraph of this subsection has the same meaning as it has in section 17 of the Finance Act, 1940.

(f) The expression “other pipe tobacco” mentioned in Parts II and III of the First Schedule to this Act means manufactured tobacco of kinds normally intended to be used in pipes, not being hard pressed tobacco.

(3) The duty of excise on tobacco imposed by section 19 of the Finance Act, 1934 , shall, as on and from the 12th day of April, 1967, be charged, levied and paid at the several rates specified in Part IV of the First Schedule to this Act in lieu of the several rates specified in Part V of the Third Schedule to the Finance Act, 1966 .

15. —(1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, there shall be charged, levied and paid on all stocks of tobacco of every description which at five o'clock in the afternoon of the 11th day of April, 1967, are in the ownership or possession of a licensed manufacturer of tobacco and in any place in the State other than a bonded warehouse, a duty of excise, payable by the manufacturer, at the following rate, that is to say:

(a) so far as the stocks consist of unmanufactured tobacco, three shillings and five pence for every pound weight of the stocks, and

(b) so far as the stocks consist of tobacco (including snuff) other than unmanufactured tobacco, three shillings and five pence for every pound weight of unmanufactured tobacco from which, in the opinion of the Revenue Commissioners, the stocks were derived.

(2) The duty imposed by subsection (1) of this section shall not be chargeable on any manufactured tobacco (including cigarettes, cigars and snuff other than offal snuff) as to which it is shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that it was at five o'clock in the afternoon of the 11th day of April, 1967, fully prepared for sale by retail and that either—

(i) it was not the product of any operation carried out by any manufacturer in whose ownership or possession it was at that time; or

(ii) it was at that time held as retail stock in premises used for selling tobacco by retail; or

(iii) it was at that time in transit from seller to buyer under a contract of sale:

Provided that no tobacco shall be deemed for the purposes of this subsection to have been fully prepared for sale by retail if, according to the ordinary course of business of the person in whose ownership or possession it was or to whom it was in transit, it had still to be subjected to some further process (other than packing) before being sold by him.

(3) Every licensed manufacturer of tobacco shall not later than the 18th day of April, 1967, make a return to the Revenue Commissioners in a form approved by them giving such information as they may thereby require and, in particular, showing the quantities by weight of tobacco of every description in his ownership or possession at five o'clock in the afternoon of the 11th day of April, 1967, in any place in the State other than a bonded warehouse.

(4) Every licensed manufacturer of tobacco shall—

(a) produce, if so required, to any officer of Customs and Excise the trade books and all accounts and documents belonging to or in the possession of such manufacturer which are necessary for verifying the return made in pursuance of subsection (3) of this section, and

(b) render all reasonable assistance to such officer in the taking of an account of the tobacco which was in the ownership or possession of such manufacturer at five o'clock in the afternoon of the 11th day of April, 1967.

(5) Every licensed manufacturer of tobacco shall, immediately upon making the return required by subsection (3) of this section or on the 18th day of April, 1967, whichever is the earlier, pay to the Revenue Commissioners the full amount of the duty imposed by subsection (1) of this section on any tobacco which was in his ownership or possession at five o'clock in the afternoon of the 11th day of April, 1967, and was chargeable with the said duty, and the Revenue Commissioners may, if they think fit, defer the payment of the duty to a date not later than the 1st day of November, 1967, upon the manufacturer giving security by bond or otherwise to their satisfaction that such duty will be paid.

(6) Every manufacturer required by subsection (3) of this section to make such return as is mentioned in that subsection who either fails to make such return or makes a return which is incomplete, false or misleading in any material respect or fails or refuses to do anything which he is required by subsection (4) of this section to do shall be guilty of an offence under the statutes relating to duties of excise and shall for every such offence incur an excise penalty of fifty pounds, and all tobacco in relation to which such offence was committed shall be forfeited.

(7) Where drawback is payable in respect of tobacco on which the excise duty imposed by subsection (1) of this section has been paid, such drawback shall, to the extent of the duty paid in pursuance of the said subsection (1) as determined by the Revenue Commissioners, be a drawback of excise.

16. —(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any other enactment, the Revenue Commissioners may, subject in any particular case to such conditions and restrictions as they see fit to impose,—

(a) approve places, to be known as transit depots, for the temporary deposit of imported goods which have not yet been cleared from customs charge, and

(b) permit imported goods which have not yet been cleared from customs charge, including goods which have not yet been reported and entered under the Customs Acts, to be unshipped or unladen and removed to an approved transit depot.

(2) The Revenue Commissioners may at any time revoke or vary the terms of any approval given under subsection (1) (a) of this section.

(3) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any condition or restriction imposed by the Revenue Commissioners under subsection (1) of this section shall be liable to a penalty of one hundred pounds and any goods in respect of which the offence was committed shall be liable to forfeiture.

17. —Each enactment specified in column (2) of the Second Schedule to this Act is hereby amended as specified in column (3) of that Schedule.

18. —(1) Section 17 (6) of the Finance Act, 1966 , is hereby amended by the substitution of “twenty per cent.” for “ten per cent.”.

(2) If this Act is passed before or on the 1st day of July, 1967, subsection (1) of this section shall come into operation on that day and, if it is passed after that day, that subsection shall be deemed to have come into operation on that day.

(3) The appropriate repayments shall be made having regard to the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of this section and the repayments shall be made in accordance with such directions as may be given by the Minister for Local Government.

19. —The Imposition of Duties (No. 158) (Matches) Order, 1966, and the Imposition of Duties (No. 159) (Customs Duties and Form of Customs Tariff) Order, 1966, are hereby confirmed.