Finance Act 1989

General U.K.

15 Estimation of excise duty. U.K.

(1) Section 116A of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (power toestimate excise duties) shall be amended as mentioned in subsections (2) and(3) below.

(2) In subsection (1)—

(a) after the words “excise duty” there shall be inserted “to whichthis section applies”, and

(b) for “the occupier of an excise warehouse or a distiller” there besubstituted “a revenue trader”.

(3) The following subsection shall be inserted after subsection (2)—

“(3) This section applies to any excise duty other than one in relation towhich provision for estimation is made by the Betting andGaming Duties Act 1981 (that is to say, general betting, gaming licence andbingo duties).”

16 Time limits for proceedings. U.K.

(1) After section 146 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 there shall be inserted—

“146A Time limit for proceedings.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in the customs and excise Acts, and notwithstanding anything in any other enactment, the following provisions shall apply in relation to proceedings for an offence under those Acts.

(2) Proceedings for an indictable offence shall not be commenced after the end of the period of 20 years beginning with the day on which the offence was committed.

(3) Proceedings for a summary offence shall not be commenced after the end of the period of 3 years beginning with that day but, subject to that, may be commenced at any time within 6 months from the date on which sufficient evidence to warrant the proceedings came to the knowledge of the prosecuting authority.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (3) above, a certificate of the prosecuting authority as to the date on which such evidence as is there mentioned came to that authority’s knowledge shall be conclusive evidence of that fact.

(5) In the application of this section to Scotland—

(a) in subsection (3), “proceedings for an indictable offence” means proceedings on indictment;

(b) in subsection (3), “proceedings for a summary offence” means summary proceedings.

(6) In the application of this section to Northern Ireland—

(a) “indictable offence” means an offence which, if committed by an adult, is punishable on conviction on indictment (whether only on conviction on indictment, or either on conviction on indictment or on summary conviction);

(b) “summary offence” means an offence which, if committed by an adult, is punishable only on summary conviction.

(7) In this section, “prosecuting authority” means the Commissioners and includes, in Scotland, the procurator fiscal.”

(2) Section 147(1) of that Act shall cease to have effect.

(3) In section 28(5) of the M1 Vehicles (Excise) Act 1971,for the words “section 147(1)” there shall be substituted the words “section 146A”.

(4) This section shall have effect in relation to offences committed on or after the day on which this Act is passed.

Marginal Citations

M1 1971 c. 10.

17 Disbursements in Port of London. U.K.

In section 17 of the M2 Customs and Excise Management Act1979 (general rule that customs and excise receipts, after deduction of disbursements, are to be paid into the Commissioners’ General Account at the Bank of England) paragraph (a) of subsection (5) (special rule that disbursements in Port of London are to be paid out of that Account) shall cease to have effect.

Marginal Citations

M2 1979 c. 2.