Finance Act 2013
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Amendment of Chapter 3 (tobacco products tax) of Part 2 of Finance Act 2005. |
56.— Chapter 3 of Part 2 of the Finance Act 2005 is amended— | |
(a) in section 71(1) by inserting the following definitions: | ||
“ ‘illicit tobacco product’ means any tobacco product that has, contrary to the requirements of section 108A of the Finance Act 2001 , been produced or processed in the State otherwise than in a tax warehouse; | ||
‘prohibited goods’ means any machinery, apparatus, equipment, vessel, materials, substance or other thing which is being used, or was used, or is intended to be used, in the production or processing of any illicit tobacco product; | ||
‘unmanufactured tobacco’ means any thing that falls to be classified as such under the combined nomenclature of the European Communities referred to in Article 1 of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2658/87 of 23 July 1987 7 ;”, | ||
(b) in section 78(3) by inserting “sell or deliver,” after “keep for sale or delivery,”, and | ||
(c) by inserting the following section after section 78: | ||
“Illicit manufacture of tobacco products. | ||
78A.— (1) It is an offence under this subsection— | ||
(a) to produce or process any illicit tobacco product or to attempt such production or processing, or to be concerned with any such production, processing, attempted production or attempted processing, | ||
(b) to knowingly deal in any illicit tobacco product, | ||
(c) to keep prohibited goods on any premises or other land or on any vehicle, or | ||
(d) to deliver, or to be in the process of delivering, any illicit tobacco product or prohibited goods. | ||
(2) Without prejudice to any other penalty to which a person may be liable, a person convicted of an offence under this section is liable— | ||
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine of €5,000 or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months, or to both, or | ||
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding €126,970 or, at the discretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years, or to both. | ||
(3) Any tobacco products, materials or prohibited goods in respect of which an offence has been committed under subsection (1) are liable to forfeiture, and where any such products, materials or goods are found in or on a vehicle, or in any manner attached to a vehicle, that vehicle is also liable to forfeiture. | ||
(4) (a) In the case of proceedings for an offence under subsection (1)(c), taken against a person who is the owner or the occupier for the time being of premises or other land on which prohibited goods are found, it shall be presumed until the contrary is proved that the prohibited goods concerned have been kept by that person on that premises or other land. | ||
(b) Where any unmanufactured tobacco is found in the State and where that unmanufactured tobacco is not shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners to be kept, or to be in the course of delivery— | ||
(i) under a customs procedure within the meaning of Council Regulation (EEC) No. 2913/92 of 12 October 1992 8 , | ||
(ii) for use as raw material for the production of tobacco products in a tax warehouse, | ||
(iii) for use as raw material for the production of any product or thing other than a tobacco product, or | ||
(iv) for any other use that is not contrary to this section, | ||
then it shall be presumed until the contrary is proved that the unmanufactured tobacco is prohibited goods. | ||
(5) Section 13 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1967 shall apply in relation to an offence under this section as if, in place of the penalties specified in subsection (3) of that section, there were specified in that subsection the penalties provided for by subsection (2)(a) of this section, and the reference in subsection (2)(a) of section 13 of the Criminal Procedure Act 1967 to the penalties provided for in subsection (3) of that section shall be construed and apply accordingly. | ||
(6) Where an offence under this section is committed by a body corporate and the offence is shown to have been committed with the consent or connivance of any person who, when the offence was committed, was a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate or a member of the committee of management or other controlling authority of the body corporate, that person as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of an offence and may be proceeded against and punished as if that person were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.”. | ||