Finance Act 1964



Finance Act 1964

1964 CHAPTER 49

An Act to grant certain duties, to alter other duties, and to amend the law relating to the National Debt and the Public Revenue, and to make further provision in connection with Finance.

[16th July 1964]

Most Gracious Sovereign,

We , Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of the United Kingdom in Parliament assembled, towards raising the necessary supplies to defray Your Majesty's public expenses, and making an addition to the public revenue, have freely and voluntarily resolved to give and grant unto Your Majesty the several duties hereinafter mentioned; and do therefore most humbly beseech Your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

I Customs and Excise

Part I

Customs and Excise

S-1 Spirits.

1 Spirits.

(1) There shall be charged—

(a ) on spirits distilled, or manufactured by any other process whatsoever, in the United Kingdom a duty of excise at the rate shown in Table 1 in Schedule 1 to this Act, and

(b ) on spirits imported into the United Kingdom duties of customs at the rates shown in Table 1 and Table 2 in that Schedule (of which those for imported perfumed spirits as shown in Table 2 are the same as the existing rates of duties).

(2) The rates of customs duties shown in the fourth and fifth columns of the said Table 1 apply respectively to spirits qualifying for Commonwealth preference and to spirits of Convention area origin within the meaning of the European Free Trade Association Act 1960, and the rates of customs duties in the third column of the said Table 1 apply to spirits which are not chargeable at the rates shown in the said fourth and fifth columns.

(3) In the application to the duties charged by this section of any provision contained in the customs Acts and passed before this Act, any reference to a preferential rate shall be taken as referring only to a rate for goods qualifying for Commonwealth preference, and any reference to the full rate (where distinguished from a preferential rate) shall be taken as including any Convention rate of duty.

(4) In the case of any mixture, compound or preparation which is recognised by the Commissioners as being used for medical purposes and which, on importation, is charged with duty under this section in respect of the spirit contained in it, or used in its preparation or manufacture, the duty under this section shall be reduced and charged—

(a ) in the case of spirits not within paragraph 2(b ) in Table 1 in Schedule 1 to this Act, at the rate of 14 s. 9 d. per proof gallon, and

(b ) in the case of spirits within the said paragraph 2(b ) at the rate of 1 per gallon.

(5) On the importation of goods not for human consumption containing spirits as a part or ingredient thereof, the Commissioners may, subject to such conditions as they may think fit to impose, direct the goods to be treated for the purposes of the customs Acts, and in particular section 259 (manufactured or composite goods containing articles chargeable with customs duty) of the Act of 1952, as not containing spirits.

(6) The duties charged by this section are instead of the duties charged at the rates set out in Schedule 1 to the Finance Act 1962.

(7) This section, except subsection (5), shall have effect as from 15th April 1964.

S-2 Beer.

2 Beer.

(1) There shall be charged—

(a ) on beer brewed in the United Kingdom a duty of excise at the rates shown in Schedule 2 to this Act, and

(b ) on beer imported into the United Kingdom duties of customs at the rates so shown.

(2) Drawback under sections 137 and 138 of the Act of 1952 shall, where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners that a duty of excise or customs charged under this section has been paid, be allowed at the appropriate rate shown in the said Schedule 2.

(3) The rates of duties of customs, and of customs drawback, shown in the fourth and fifth columns in the said Schedule 2 apply respectively to beer qualifying for Commonwealth preference and to beer of Convention area origin within the meaning of the European Free Trade Association Act 1960, and the rates of duties of customs, and of customs drawback, in the third column in the said Schedule 2 apply to beer which is not chargeable at the rates shown in the said fourth and fifth columns.

(4) The duties charged, and the drawbacks allowed, by this section are instead of the duties charged, and the drawbacks allowed, at the rates set out in Schedule 2 to the Finance Act 1962, and instead of the customs duty and the drawbacks charged and allowed in respect of beer under section 2 of the Finance Act 1933 and section 3(3) of the Finance Act 1957 (duty on hops and additional duty of customs in respect of beer).

(5) Black beer the worts whereof before fermentation were of a specific gravity of 1200 degrees or more shall not be charged with duty under section 1 of the Finance Act 1959 or with any duty under this section, and—

(a ) except for the purpose of drawback of duty charged at the rates in force before the coming into force of this section, the expression ‘beer’ in the customs and excise Acts shall not include such black beer,

(b ) the substances to which section 164 of the Act of 1952 (penalties for mis-describing substances as beer) apply shall not include such black beer, and for the purposes of that section the name ‘black beer’ shall not in itself be taken to be such a description as to indicate that a substance is or is a substitute for, or bears any resemblance to, beer or any description of beer,

(c ) all references in the customs and excise Acts to black beer shall be omitted, and

(d ) section 2 of the Finance Act 1930 (duty on imported black beer) shall cease to have effect.

In this subsection ‘black beer’ means beer of the description called or similar to black beer, mum, spruce beer or Berlin white beer, and any other preparation, whether fermented or not, of a similar character, and in the definition of ‘beer’ in section 307(1) of the Act of 1952 the words ‘black beer’ shall be omitted but that shall not be taken as excluding from that definition anything other than black beer of the kind exempted from duty by this subsection.

(6) This section shall have effect as from 15th April 1964.

S-3 Wine and British wine.

3 Wine and British wine.

(1) There shall be charged—

(a ) on wine imported into the United Kingdom duties of customs at the rates shown in Schedule 3 to this Act, and

(b ) on British wine a duty of excise at the rates shown in Schedule 4 to this Act.

(2) The rates of customs duties shown in the third column of the said Schedule 3 apply to wine qualifying for Commonwealth preference, and the rates of customs duties in the second column of the said Schedule 3 apply to wine not so qualifying.

(3) Each of the rates specified in the said Schedule 3 to this Act for light wine which qualifies for Commonwealth preference shall be increased by one shilling for any period for which the Treasury by order so direct.

Subsections (1) to (4) of section 13 of the Import Duties Act 1958 (which relate to the making, revocation, annulment and approval of orders under that Act) shall apply in relation to orders under this subsection as they apply in relation to orders under that Act.

(4) For the purposes of this section and Schedule 3 to this Act ‘wine’ includes the lees of wine.

(5) The duties charged by this section are instead of the duties charged at the rates set out in Schedule 3 to the Finance Act 1962.

(6) This section shall have effect as from 15th April 1964.

S-4 Tobacco.

4 Tobacco.

(1) There shall be charged—

(a ) on tobacco imported into the United Kingdom duties of customs at the rates shown in Table 1 in Schedule 5 to this Act, and

(b ) on tobacco grown in the United Kingdom duties of excise at the rates shown in Table 2 in that Schedule.

(2) Drawback under section 183 of the Act of 1952 shall, where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners that a duty of customs or excise charged under this section has been paid, be allowed at the appropriate rate shown in Table 3 in Schedule 5 to this Act.

(3) The rates of customs duties shown in the third and fourth columns of Table 1 in Schedule 5 to this Act apply respectively to tobacco qualifying for Commonwealth preference, and to tobacco of Convention area origin within the meaning of the European Free Trade Association Act 1960, and the rates of customs duties shown in the second column of that Table apply to tobacco which is not chargeable at the rates shown in the said third and fourth columns; and the appropriate rates of drawback are shown accordingly in Table 3 in Schedule 5 to this Act.

(4) In subsections (2) and (3) of section 8 of the Finance Act 1919 (modifications of preferential rate) the expression ‘preferential rate’ shall mean the Commonwealth rates of customs duty shown in Table 1 in Schedule 5 to this Act.

(5) The duties charged, and the drawbacks allowed, by this section are instead of the duties charged, and the drawbacks allowed, at the rates set out in Schedule 4 to the Finance Act 1962.

(6) This section shall have effect as from 15th April 1964.

S-5...

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