Finance (Excise Duty on Tobacco Products) Act, 1977

Remission of certain duty payable before 1st January, 1978.

6.—(1) This section applies to stocks of tobacco, including tobacco in tobacco products or partially manufactured tobacco products, of all descriptions (other than snuff) which are shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners to lie or be stored or kept at midnight on the 31st day of December, 1977, in premises required to be entered under section 10 of this Act or in a warehouse approved of under section 4 of this Act and, in the case of manufactured or partially manufactured tobacco other than reconstituted or homogenised tobacco, to be the product of an operation carried out by the manufacturer in whose premises or warehouse the said stocks lie or are stored or kept.

(2) Where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that the duty of excise imposed by paragraph 10 of the Imposition of Duties (No. 221) (Excise Duties) Order, 1975, has been charged before the 1st day of January, 1978, in respect of stocks of tobacco, including tobacco in tobacco products or partially manufactured tobacco products, to which this section applies, they may, subject to compliance with subsection (3) of this section and with such conditions as they may think fit to impose, remit or repay the said duty.

(3) A manufacturer of tobacco may, not later than the 7th day of January, 1978, make a return to the Revenue Commissioners in a form approved of by them giving such information as they may thereby require in relation to the weights and moisture contents of stocks of tobacco, including tobacco in tobacco products, or partially manufactured tobacco products, to which this section applies, and claiming repayment or remission of the duty of excise referred to in subsection (2) of this section and charged in respect of the said stocks before the 1st day of January, 1978.

(4) A manufacturer of tobacco shall—

(a) produce to any officer of Customs and Excise, if so requested by him, the trade books and all accounts and documents belonging to or in the possession of such manufacturer that the officer considers to be necessary for the purpose of verifying a return made or to be made under the provisions of this section,

(b) render to such officer such reasonable assistance as may be requested of him by the officer in the taking of an account of the stocks of tobacco to which the return relates.

(5) Every manufacturer of tobacco who makes a return under this section which is false or misleading in any material respect, or fails or refuses to comply with a request under this section, shall be guilty of an offence under the statutes relating to the duties of excise and shall be liable on conviction to an excise penalty of £500, and all stocks of tobacco, including tobacco in tobacco products or partially manufactured tobacco products, in relation to which such offence was committed shall be liable to forfeiture.