S.I. No. 334/1972:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (CUSTOMS) REGULATIONS, 1972.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (CUSTOMS) REGULATIONS, 1972.

I, SEOIRSE Ó COLLA, Minister for Finance, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), hereby make the following Regulations :

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Customs) Regulations, 1972.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1973.

3. In these Regulations "the Act of 1876" means the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876 (1876, c. 36).

4. (1) Notwithstanding any provision of the Customs Acts, where a duty of customs becomes payable on imported goods entered for home use, including goods cleared from warehouse, the Revenue Commissioners may, subject to such conditions as they may see fit to impose (including security for payment of the duty), permit payment of the duty to be deferred for such period as the Commissioners may determine.

(2) Nothing in paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall affect the provisions of section 11 (4) of the Finance Act, 1959 (No. 18 of 1959).

5. (1) Section 9 of the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1881, is hereby amended by the deletion of " diamonds and bullion, and".

(2) Section 49 of the Act of 1876 and section 3 of the Revenue Act, 1898, are hereby repealed.

6. (1) In so far as section 73 of the Act of 1876 relates to the entry of goods imported by sea, the reference in that section to fourteen days (exclusive of Sundays and holidays) after the arrival of the importing ship shall be construed as a reference to 45 days (including Sundays and holidays) after--

(a) in a case in which the relevant goods are entered and cleared at the port or place of importation, the date on which due report is made, or

(b) in a case where removal to approved premises, or another approved place at which the goods will in due course be examined, is authorised by the Revenue Commissioners, the date on which the relevant goods arrive at those premises or that place,

and, if in any case the period of 45 days ends on a day which is a Sunday or holiday, the period shall be extended to the end of the next day which is not a Sunday or holiday.

(2) In this Regulation "holiday" means a day on which officers of customs are not in attendance for the acceptance of entry for imported goods.

7. (1) Except where regulations of the European Communities require otherwise, the Customs Acts shall apply to agricultural levies as if they were customs duties.

(2) Agricultural levies shall be under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners.

(3) Subject to such conditions and restrictions as the Revenue Commissioners may impose, section 12 of the Act of 1876, in so far as it relates to the warehousing, custody and delivery out of warehouse of goods, shall apply to the warehousing of such other goods, to which but for this Regulation that section would not apply, as the Commissioners may allow to be warehoused for exportation or for use as stores.

(4) In this Regulation "agricultural levies" means all import levies or other import charges, not being customs duties, prescribed by a regulation of the European Communities.

8. Notwithstanding anything in the Customs Acts, where a permitted handling operation has been carried out in warehouse on imported goods, the amount of any duty of customs chargeable thereon may, at the election of the person entering the goods for home use, be calculated by reference to the quantity and description of the goods as they were before the permitted handling operation was carried out, and where more than one such operation has been carried out, the election may be exercised in respect of any such operation.

9. (1) Section 95 of the Act of 1876 is hereby amended by the deletion of ", provided that such goods be repacked in the packages in which they were imported, or in such other packages as the Commissioners shall permit (not being less in any case if the goods be to be exported or to be removed to another warehouse, than is required by law on the importation of such goods) " and of "after such goods have been so separated and repacked in proper or approved packages,".

(2) Section 96 of the Act of 1876 is hereby amended by the insertion after "as they may direct or require" of "; provided that where goods are taken out of warehouse for delivery to a person qualified to receive them without payment of duty imposed by or under the provisions of any Act, such goods may be so taken out without payment of duty and without a requirement that they shall be returned to warehouse".

(3) Section 97 of the Act of 1876 is hereby amended by the insertion after "for exportation," of "or for such other purposes, and subject to such conditions, as the Revenue Commissioners may determine,".

10. Where, in pursuance of any requirement arising under a regulation of the European Communities or any practice relating to the movement of goods between member States, a seal, lock or mark is used (whether in the State or elsewhere) to secure or identify any goods for customs purposes, and the seal, lock or mark is wilfully and prematurely removed or tampered with in the State, the person then in charge of the goods shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £100.

11. Section 38 of the Finance Act, 1932 (No. 20 of 1932), is hereby amended by the insertion at the end of the section of the following subsections:

"(2) The Revenue Commissioners may, under such conditions as they think fit to impose, permit any article or goods imported under this section, or any product manufactured or partly manufactured from such an article or such goods to be delivered on payment of the appropriate amount of customs duty.

(3) The duty of customs payable under subsection (2) of this section shall, subject to subsection (4) of this section, be that appropriate to the imported article or goods according to the rate or amount applicable on the date of acceptance of the relevant import entry by the customs authorities at importation and where appropriate shall be payable on the basis of the value for customs purposes ascertained or accepted as applicable on that date.

(4) Where the Revenue Commissioners so decide and subject to such conditions as they think fit to impose, the duty of customs payable under subsection (2) of this section shall be that applicable to the goods delivered on the date on which they are so delivered.

(5) (a) The Revenue Commissioners may, subject to compliance with such conditions as they think fit to impose, permit the substitution of any article or goods for any article or goods imported or intended to be imported under this section, if the article or goods to be so substituted is or are of the same kind and quality and of the same technical characteristics as the corresponding article or goods imported or intended to be imported under this section.

(b) The power to impose conditions conferred on the Revenue Commissioners by this subsection includes power to exempt from payment of any duty of customs the articles or goods imported or intended to be imported.

12. (1) Drawback of customs duty shall not be payable by reason of the exportation or intended exportation of any article or goods produced in whole or in part from any imported article or goods by one or more of the following processes--

(a) the working of an article or goods, including fitting or assembling them or adjusting them to other goods;

(b) the processing of an article or goods;

(c) the repair of an article or goods, including restoring them to their original condition and putting them in order.

(2) Paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall not apply to--

(a) a customs duty of a fiscal nature, or to the fiscal element of such a duty, in respect of which the State makes a request to the Commission of the European Communities under paragraph 3 of Article 38 of the Act annexed to the Treaty relating to the accession of the State to the European Economic Community and to the European Atomic Energy Community, signed at Brussels on the 22nd day of January, 1972, or

(b) any article or goods which originated in or, immediately prior to importation, were in free circulation in a member State other than the State.

13. Section II of the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1958 (No. 28 of 1958), is hereby amended--

(a) by the insertion in subsection (1) after "within the airport" of "or subjected there to other handling operations",

(b) by the substitution of the following for subsection (2) :

"(2) On and after the 1st day of January, 1973, where, in the case of goods to which this section applies and in the course of the production, manufacture, processing, packaging or other handling of which, or of anything contained or incorporated therein, any articles, materials or ingredients of a kind liable to a duty of customs or excise were used, packaged or otherwise handled, the goods are brought from the airport into any other part of the State, there shall, unless regulations of the European Communities otherwise require, be charged, levied and paid on the goods a duty of customs of an amount equal to the aggregate of the following amounts:

(a) the amount (if any) of customs duty which would, but for section 14. of the Finance Act, 1946 (No. 15 of 1946), have been payable on the bringing into the airport of any such articles, materials or ingredients so used, packaged or otherwise handled :

Provided that, in the case of goods which have undergone within the airport handling operations, other than packaging--

(i) the rate of duty applied in calculating the aforesaid amount of customs duty shall be that applicable to the articles, materials or ingredients so handled at the time they are brought from the airport into another part of the State, and

(ii) the quantity and description of the goods taken for the purposes of calculating the aforesaid amount of customs duty may, if the person entering the goods for home consumption so elects, be that which was attributable to the goods before they were subjected to handling and, where more than one handling operation is carried out, the aforementioned election may be exercised in respect of the first or any subsequent operation;

(b) the amount (if any) of drawback of customs or excise duty paid on any such articles, materials or ingredients so used, packaged or otherwise handled, brought into the airport from any other part of the State;

(c) the amount (if any) of customs or excise duty which would, but for section 5 of the Customs-free Airport Act, 1947 (No. 5 of 1947), have been chargeable on any such articles, materials or ingredients so used, packaged or otherwise handled, brought into the airport from any other part of the State :

Provided that, in the case of goods which have undergone within the airport handling operations, other than packaging--

(i) the rate of duty applied in calculating the aforesaid amount of customs or excise duty shall be that applicable to the articles, materials or ingredients so handled at the time they are brought from the airport into another part of the State, and

(ii) the quantity and description of the goods taken for the purposes of calculating the aforesaid amount of customs or excise duty may, if the person entering the goods for home consumption so elects, be that which was attributable to the goods before they were subjected to handling and, where more than one handling operation is carried out, the aforementioned election may be exercised in respect of the first or any subsequent operation;

(d) the amount (if any) of any export allowances paid on any such articles, materials or ingredients so used, packaged or otherwise handled brought into the airport from any other part of the State.",

(c) by the insertion in subsection (6) after "airport" of ", or there subjects them to other handling operations,",

(d) by the deletion in subsection (6) of ", unless he intends to export all the goods to a place or places outside the State,",

(e) by the substitution for "or packaged", in each place where it occurs in subsections (4) to (8), of ",packaged or otherwise handled ", and

(f) by the substitution for "or packaging", in each place where it occurs in subsections (4) to (8), of ", packaging or other handling".

14. (1) For the purposes of any duty of customs chargeable on any imported goods by reference to their value, the value of the goods shall be determined according to the rules applicable to the valuation of goods for the purposes of applying the Common Customs Tariff of the European Communities.

(2) In the case of an importation of goods from a Member State, the value of the goods shall be determined on the basis of a delivery to the buyer at the port or place of importation into the State.

(3) Except as provided for in paragraph 5 (b) of this Regulation, where goods are cleared from a warehouse or the airport, the value of the goods for the purposes of any duty of customs shall be as ascertained or accepted on the date of clearance of the goods for home use.

(4) The following special provisions shall apply for the purpose of taking the price paid or payable into account in determining the value, for the purposes of any duty of customs, of goods in warehouse cleared for home use :

(a) subject to the provisions of Article 9 of Regulation No. 803/68 the price paid or payable may be either the price in the sale relating to deposit in the warehouse or the price on resale, on condition that in either case the price shall be fixed with reference to importation into the Community;

(b) where the date of deposit in the warehouse is taken as a basis, account shall be taken of abnormal price fluctuations which, during the storage period, gave rise to the suspension, provided for in Article 10 (7) of Regulation No. 803/68, of the application of periods of grace and where the storage period exceeds two years, account shall also be taken of other price fluctuations;

(c) where the date of removal from the warehouse is taken as a basis, the periods of grace provided for in Article 10 of Regulation No. 803/68 shall be extended by the storage period when that period does not exceed two years.

(5) (a) The costs of warehousing and of preserving the goods while in a warehouse or the airport borne by a purchaser shall not be included in the value for the purposes of any duty of customs where the price paid or payable by that purchaser is taken as the basis for valuation.

(b) Where, with the authority of the Revenue Commissioners, goods in a warehouse or the airport have undergone a permitted operation, the value of the goods for the purposes of any duty of customs shall, at the request of the declarer, be that of the goods in the condition in which they were before being subjected to the operation.

(6) Where any goods on which a duty of customs is chargeable by reference to their value are imported--

(a) the person making entry, if so required by the appropriate officer of customs, shall at the time of making entry, or within such period thereafter as the Revenue Commissioners may in special cases allow, furnish to the Revenue Commissioners, in such form as the Commissioners may direct, the particulars and documents required by Article 14 of Regulation No. 803/68, as amended.

(b) The importer or any other person concerned with the importation of the goods shall give, in such form as the Revenue Commissioners may direct, such further particulars as the Revenue Commissioners may think necessary and require or specify for a proper valuation of the goods.

(c) The importer or any other person concerned with the importation of the goods shall produce, at his premises or elsewhere as the Revenue Commissioners may appoint, to the appropriate officer of customs upon demand any books of account or other documents of whatever nature relating to the purchase, importation or sale of the goods by the importer or such other person.

(7) Where any person contravenes, refuses or fails to comply with any provision of this Regulation he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50.

(8) In this Regulation--

"the airport" has the same meaning as in the Customs-free Airport Act, 1947 (No. 5 of 1947);

"Regulation No. 803/68" means Regulation No. 803/68* made by the Council of the European Communities on the 27th day of June, 1968, and relating to the valuation of goods for customs purposes.

*OJ No. L148 of 28.6.1968.

15. These Regulations, so far as they relate to duties of customs, shall be construed together with the Customs Acts and, so far as they relate to duties of excise, shall be construed together with the statutes which relate to the duties of excise and the management of those duties.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 22nd day of December, 1972.

SEOIRSE Ó COLLA,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The effect of these Regulations is to make certain changes in Customs procedures necessitated by membership of the European Communities.

The Regulations come into operation on the 1st January, 1973.