Finance Act, 1999
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PART 2 Customs and Excise | ||
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Chapter 1 Mineral Oil Tax | ||
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Interpretation (Chapter 1). |
94.—(1) In this Chapter and in Schedule 2, save where the context otherwise requires— | |
“additive” means any product (other than hydrocarbon oil, liquefied petroleum gas or substitute fuel) which may be added to— | ||
(a) hydrocarbon oil, | ||
(b) liquefied petroleum gas, or | ||
(c) substitute fuel, | ||
as an extender or for the purpose of improving performance or for any other purpose, and cognate words shall be construed accordingly; | ||
“agricultural tractor” means a mechanically propelled vehicle which is designed or constructed primarily for use for agricultural purposes; | ||
“alumina” means aluminium oxide; | ||
“ASTM” means American Society for Testing and Materials; | ||
“authorised warehousekeeper” has the meaning assigned to it by section 103 of the Finance Act, 1992 ; | ||
“aviation gasoline” means light oil which— | ||
(a) is specially manufactured as fuel for aircraft, | ||
(b) is not normally used in motor vehicles, and | ||
(c) is delivered for use solely as fuel for aircraft; | ||
“biofuel” includes products manufactured or produced from oil seeds, cereals or other plant material for use or used as fuel for engines or motors; | ||
“combustion in the engine of a motor vehicle” shall be construed as including internal combustion in such engine and external combustion as fuel for such engine; | ||
“the Commissioners” means the Revenue Commissioners; | ||
“the Directive” means Council Directive No. 92/81/EEC of 19 October, 19921 , as amended by Council Directive No. 94/74/EEC of 22 December, 19942 ; | ||
“fuel oil” means heavy oil, the viscosity of which as determined by the Redwood No. 1 Viscometer at 38° Celsius is more than 115 seconds, the ash content of which is less than 0.2 per cent when tested in accordance with the method known as the ASTM D482 method or other equivalent method approved by the Commissioners and the colour of which is darker than 8 when tested in accordance with the method known as the ASTM D1500 method or other equivalent method approved by the Commissioners; | ||
“glasshouse” means any building or structure made substantially of glass or other transparent or translucent material which is capable of being artificially heated and which is used for growing horticultural produce; | ||
“heavy oil” means hydrocarbon oil other than light oil; | ||
“horticultural produce” means fruit, vegetables (including fungi) of a kind grown for human consumption, flowers, pot plants, herbs, seeds, bulbs, trees and shrubs; | ||
“horticultural producer” means a person growing horticultural produce; | ||
“hydrocarbon oil” includes petroleum oil and oil produced from coal, shale, peat, or any other bituminous substance, and all liquid hydrocarbons, but does not include any oil which is a hydrocarbon or a bituminous or asphaltic substance and is, when tested in a manner prescribed by the Commissioners, solid or semi-solid at a temperature of 15° Celsius; | ||
“land” includes any structure on land; | ||
“leaded petrol” means light oil which— | ||
(a) contains more than 0.013 grammes of lead per litre as established in accordance with the provisions of Council Directive No. 85/210/EEC of 20 March, 19851 , and | ||
(b) is not aviation gasoline; | ||
“light oil” means hydrocarbon oil of which, when tested in accordance with the method known as the ASTM D86 method or other equivalent method approved by the Commissioners, not less than 50 per cent by volume distils at a temperature not exceeding 185° Celsius or of which not less than 95 per cent by volume distils at a temperature not exceeding 240° Celsius or which, when tested in accordance with the method known as the ASTM D93 or other equivalent method approved by the Commissioners has a flashpoint of less than 22.8° Celsius but does not include white spirit or light oil which is charged as heavy oil in accordance with section 96 (4); | ||
“liquefied petroleum gas” includes methane; | ||
“marker” means a combination of chemical compounds added, or to be added, to mineral oils primarily for the purpose of the identification of such oils for excise duty purposes; | ||
“Member State” means a Member State of the European Union; | ||
“methane” means a colourless, odourless, flammable gas, having the chemical formula CH4, of density 0.7168 grammes per litre and a boiling point of -161.4° Celsius; | ||
“mineral oil” means hydrocarbon oil, liquefied petroleum gas, substitute fuel and additives; | ||
“the Minister” means the Minister for Finance; | ||
“mobile concrete pumping equipment” means a vehicle which is designed, constructed or adapted solely for pumping concrete and which is not used for any purpose on roads other than for travel or for pumping concrete; | ||
“mobile crane” means a vehicle which is designed, constructed or adapted solely for lifting or elevating goods and which is not used for any purpose on roads other than for travel or for lifting or elevating goods; | ||
“mobile well drilling equipment” means a vehicle which is designed, constructed or adapted solely for well drilling purposes and which is not used for any purpose on roads other than for travel or for well drilling; | ||
“motor” means any device that converts mineral oil into mechanical energy to produce motion and includes an engine of a motor vehicle and a stationary engine; | ||
“motor octane number” means the motor octane number measured in accordance with the methods outlined in the Irish Standard I.S./EN 228: 1994 or other equivalent method approved by the Commissioners; | ||
“motor vehicle” means a mechanically propelled vehicle which is designed, constructed or modified to be suitable for use on roads, including any vehicle which is designed, constructed or modified to be suitable for traction on a road by a mechanically propelled vehicle, but does not include an agricultural tractor or a road roller or an off-road dumper, or a mobile crane or mobile well drilling equipment or mobile concrete pumping equipment; | ||
“officer” means an officer of the Commissioners; | ||
“off-road dumper” means a vehicle exceeding 3 metres cubed in capacity, level loaded, designed and constructed primarily for use on sites of construction works (including road construction and house and other building works) for the purpose of conveying concrete, rubble, earth or other like materials and incapable by reason of its design and construction of exceeding a speed of 55 kilometres per hour on a level road under its own power and which is the subject of a special permit under Article 17 of the Road Traffic (Construction, Equipment and Use of Vehicles) Regulations, 1963 ( S.I. No. 190 of 1963 ); | ||
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Commissioners under section 104 ; | ||
“private pleasure craft” means any craft used by its owner or the natural or legal person who enjoys its use either through hire or through any other means, for other than commercial purposes and in particular other than for the carriage of passengers or goods or for the supply of services for consideration or for the purposes of public authorities; | ||
“private pleasure flying” means the use of an aircraft by its owner or the natural or legal person who enjoys its use either through hire or through any other means, for other than commercial purposes and in particular other than for the carriage of passengers or goods or for the supply of services for consideration or for the purposes of public authorities; | ||
“producing”, in relation to mineral oils, includes manufacturing, refining, recycling, subjecting to a specific process within the meaning of paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the Directive, and any other method of processing and obtaining of mineral oil from any natural source and “production” and other cognate words shall be construed accordingly; | ||
“prohibited goods” means any machinery, apparatus, equipment, vessel, substance or other thing which is being used, or was used, or is intended to be used— | ||
(a) in the removal from any mineral oil of any prescribed marker or any substance prohibited by regulations made under section 104 , or | ||
(b) for the purpose of impeding the identification in any mineral oil of any prescribed marker; | ||
“propellant” means for combustion in the engine of a motor vehicle; | ||
“recycle”, in relation to mineral oil, means to undergo any process of restoration which renders it suitable for reuse and cognate words shall be construed accordingly; | ||
“research octane number” means the research octane number measured in accordance with the methods outlined in the Irish Standard I.S./EN 228: 1994 or other equivalent method approved by the Commissioners; | ||
“special container” means any container fitted with specially designed apparatus for refrigeration, oxygenation, thermal insulation or other systems; | ||
“standard tank”, in relation to a motor vehicle, means— | ||
(a) a tank of a type permanently fixed by the manufacturer to all motor vehicles of the same type as the vehicle concerned and whose permanent fitting enables fuel to be used directly, both for the purpose of propulsion and, where appropriate, for the operation, during transport, of refrigeration systems and other systems, | ||
(b) a gas tank fitted to a motor vehicle designed for the direct use of gas as a fuel and a tank fitted to any other system with which the vehicle may be equipped, or | ||
(c) a tank of a type permanently fixed by the manufacturer to all containers of the same type as the container concerned and whose permanent fitting enables fuel to be used directly for the operation, during transport, of the refrigeration systems or other systems with which a special container is equipped; | ||
“substitute fuel” means any product, including biofuel, in liquid form, manufactured, produced or intended for use or used as fuel for a motor or as heating fuel but does not include an additive, hydrocarbon oil or liquefied petroleum gas; | ||
“super unleaded petrol” means light oil which is not leaded petrol and which has a research octane number of 96 or more and a motor octane number of 86 or more; | ||
“tax warehouse” has the meaning assigned to it by section 103 of the Finance Act, 1992 ; | ||
“unleaded petrol” means light oil which— | ||
(a) contains not more than 0.013 grammes of lead per litre as established in accordance with the provisions of Council Directive No. 85/210/EEC of 20 March, 1985, | ||
(b) has a research octane number of less than 96 or a motor octane number of less than 86, and | ||
(c) is not aviation gasoline. | ||
(2) (a) In this Chapter “fuel tank” means any tank or other container in or on a motor vehicle which is used or is capable of being used to supply fuel for combustion in the engine of the motor vehicle for the purposes of propulsion or of another motor vehicle which can provide traction for such purposes. | ||
(b) It shall be presumed, until the contrary is shown, that a fuel tank is capable of being used to supply fuel for the purposes of propulsion if there are any outlets from the fuel tank other than— | ||
(i) those which are permanently and solely connected to and for the sole supply of fuel for refrigeration, oxygenation, thermal insulation or other specialised systems in or on the motor vehicle, or | ||
(ii) those which are solely for the purpose of discharging fuel from an oil road tanker to a vessel or tank separate from such oil tanker. | ||
1 O.J. No. L316 of 31 October, 1992, p. 12 |