Finance Act 1978
| Year | 1978 |
Finance Act 1978
1978 CHAPTER 42
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.
[31st July 1978]
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:—
Part I
Customs and Excise
1 Tobacco products duty.
(1) In the case of any cigarette having a tar yield of not less than 20 mg. the Table in section 4(1) of the Finance Act 1976 (excise duty on tobacco products) shall have effect as if the rate of duty in paragraph 1 were increased by 2.25 per thousand cigarettes.
(2) The Commissioners may make regulations—
(a ) prescribing how the tar yield of cigarettes is to be determined for the purposes of this section;
(b ) without prejudice to section 4(2) of the said Act of 1976, enabling the whole or any part of the additional duty imposed by this section to be remitted or repaid in such cases as may be specified in the regulations or determined by the Commissioners and subject to such conditions as they see fit to impose.
(3) For the purposes of section 6 of the said Act of 1976 (power to alter rates of duty) the increase specified in subsection (1) above shall be treated as a rate of duty separate from that applying apart from the increase; and in section 2(2) of the Finance Act 1977 (calculation of duty in case of cigarettes more than 9 cm. long) for the words ‘For the purposes of paragraph 1 in the Table in the said section 4(1)’ there shall be substituted the words ‘For the purposes of the references to a thousand cigarettes in paragraph 1 in the Table in section 4(1) of the Finance Act 1976 and in section 1(1) of the Finance Act 1978’.
(4) This section shall come into force on 4th September 1978.
2 Repayment of excise duty of beer etc.
(1) The Commissioners may by regulations provide for excise duty charged on liquor to which this subsection applies and which is used as an ingredient in the production or manufacture of—
(a ) any beverage of an alcoholic strength not exceeding 2 of proof; or
(b ) any such article (other than a beverage) as the Commissioners may determine having regard to the alcoholic content thereof,
to be repaid subject to such conditions as may be imposed by or under the regulations.
This subsection applies to beer and to wine, made-wine and cider imported into the United Kingdom.
(2) The Commissioners may by regulations provide for excise duty charged on imported wine which is converted into vinegar to be repaid subject to such conditions as may be imposed by or under the regulations.
3 Warehousing regulations.
3. In section 16(2) of the Finance (No. 2) Act 1975(warehousing regulations) after paragraph (d ) there shall be inserted—
‘(e ) enabling the Commissioners to allow goods to be removed from warehouse without payment of duty in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as they may determine;’.
4 Control of movement of goods.
(1) The Commissioners may by regulations impose conditions and restrictions as respects—
(a ) the movement of imported goods between the place of importation and a place approved by the Commissioners for the clearance out of charge of such goods; and
(b ) the movement of goods intended for export between a place approved by the Commissioners for the examination of such goods and the place of exportation.
(2) The regulations may in particular—
(a ) require the goods to be moved within such period and by such route as may be specified by or under the regulations;
(b ) require the goods to be carried in a vehicle or container complying with such requirements and secured in such manner as may be so specified; and
(c ) prohibit, except in such circumstances as may be so specified, any unloading or loading of the vehicle or container or any interference with its security.
(3) If any person contravenes or fails to comply with any regulation or any requirement imposed by or under the regulations, that person and the person then in charge of the goods shall each be liable to a penalty of 500 and any goods in respect of which the offence was committed shall be liable to forfeiture.
5 Penalty for removing seals etc.
(1) Where, in pursuance of any power conferred by the customs and excise Acts or of any requirement imposed by or under those Acts, a seal, lock or mark is used to secure or identify any goods for any of the purposes of those Acts and—
(a ) at any time while the goods are in the United Kingdom or within the limits of any port or on passage between ports in the United Kingdom, the seal, lock or mark is wilfully and prematurely removed or tampered with by any person; or
(b ) at any time before the seal, lock or mark is lawfully removed, any of the goods are wilfully removed by any person,
that person and the person then in charge of the goods shall each be liable to a penalty of 500; and for the purposes of this subsection goods in a ship or aircraft shall be deemed to be in the charge of the master of the ship or commander of the aircraft.
(2) Where, in pursuance of any Community requirement or practice which relates to the movement of goods between countries or of any international agreement to which the United Kingdom is a party and which so relates,—
(a ) a seal, lock or mark is used (whether in the United Kingdom or elsewhere) to secure or identify any goods for customs or excise purposes; and
(b ) at any time while the goods are in the United Kingdom, the seal, lock or mark is wilfully and prematurely removed or tampered with by any person,
that person and the person then in charge of the goods shall each be liable to a penalty of 500.
(3) This section shall be treated for all purposes as included in Part II of the Customs and Excise Act 1952 and section 70 of that Act, which is superseded by this section, shall cease to have effect.
6 Anti-dumping measures on ECSC products.
(1) In relation to any product covered by the ECSC treaty, the Secretary of State may by order make such provision as appears to him to be appropriate for the purpose of giving effect to any Recommendation or other Community obligation arising under that treaty and relating to the imposition, amendment, suspension, revocation or annulment of anti-dumping measures, that is to say, measures for affording protection against dumping or the granting of bounties or subsidies by countries which are not members of the Coal and Steel Community.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the power conferred by subsection (1) above, so far as may be necessary for giving effect to a Community obligation, an order under that subsection may, in circumstances specified in the order,—
(a ) require the provision of security of an amount determined under the order by way of provisional duty;
(b ) provide for the collection of the whole or a particular proportion of any amount so secured;
(c ) charge a duty of customs; and
(d ) make provisions of the order applicable to goods imported into the United Kingdom or another member State before the order comes into force;
and the power to make an order under that subsection includes power to vary or revoke an order previously made in the exercise of that power and shall be exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament.
(3) Where the application or amount of any charge imposed by an order under subsection (1) above depends on some factor other than the country of origin, the Commissioners may require the importer of any goods to state such facts as they may think necessary in order to determine the duty chargeable on those goods; and if any facts so required are not stated, the duty chargeable shall be determined on the basis that the facts are such as the Commissioners may determine.
(4) Section 9 of the Finance Act 1961 (the regulator) shall not apply to any duty chargeable on goods by virtue of subsection (1) above, and any such duty shall be in addition to any other duty of customs for the time being chargeable on those goods.
(5) Subject to subsections (6) and (7) below, after the passing of this Act, the powers conferred on the Secretary of State by the Customs Duties (Dumping and Subsidies) Act 1969 (in the following provisions of this section referred to as ‘the 1969 Act’) shall not be exercisable except in relation to products covered by the ECSC Treaty and then only in cases where the imposition of a duty under that Act to protect an industry within the United Kingdom is compatible with Community obligations; and, to the limited extent...
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