Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979

31 Restriction on delivery of immature spirits for home use

(1) No spirits shall be delivered for home use unless they have been warehoused for a period of at least 3 years or, in the case of rum, at least 2 years. But this subsection shall not apply—

(a) to spirits delivered for any purpose for which they may for the time being be delivered without payment of duty; or

(b) to spirits delivered for methylation under section 9 above or for use in art or manufacture under section 10 above; or

(c) to spirits which have been warehoused on drawback ; or

(d) to mixtures, compounds or preparations charged with duty on importation in respect of the spirits contained in them or used in their preparation or manufacture; or

(e) subject to such conditions as the Commissioners may by regulations impose, to spirits delivered to a rectifier or compounder, a manufacturing chemist or a manufacturer of perfumes for use in his manufacture, or to such other persons for such purposes as the Commissioners see fit to authorise for the purposes of this paragraph; or

(f) subject to such conditions as aforesaid, to spirits delivered for scientific purposes under section 8 above; or

(g) subject to such conditions as aforesaid, to imported Geneva, perfumed spirits or liqueurs ; or

(h) to imported compounded spirits of any kind specified for the purposes of this paragraph in regulations made by the Commissioners; or

(i) to the supply of spirits of wine for the purpose of making medicines to registered medical practitioners, hospitals and persons entitled to carry on the business of a chemist and druggist; or (f) to spirits compounded in warehouse in pursuance of warehousing regulations.

(2) For the purposes of this section, in the case of imported spirits, any period which is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners to have elapsed between the dates of manufacture and importation shall be treated as a period during which the spirits have been warehoused.

(3) If any person procures or attempts to procure the delivery of spirits in contravention of this section or contravenes or fails to comply with any regulation made thereunder, he shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty of £100, and any spirits in respect of which the offence was committed shall be liable to forfeiture.