Finance (No. 2) Act 1992

8 U.K. After section 170 of that Act there shall be inserted the following sections—

“170A Offence of handling goods subject to unpaid excise duty.

(1) Subject to subsection (2) below, if—

(a) after the excise duty point for any goods which are chargeable with a duty of excise, a person acquires possession of those goods or is concerned in carrying, removing, depositing, keeping or otherwise dealing with those goods; and

(b) at the time when he acquires possession of those goods or is so concerned, the duty on the goods has not been paid and its payment has not been deferred,

that person shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty of an amount not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

(2) In proceedings for an offence under this section it shall be a defence to show that the person who acquired possession of the goods or was concerned in carrying, removing, depositing, keeping or otherwise dealing with them—

(a) acted in accordance with the directions of, or with the consent of, the proper officer; or

(b) was not himself the person, or one of the persons, liable to pay the unpaid duty and at the time when he acted either—

(i) had no grounds for suspecting that the goods were chargeable with a duty of excise that had not yet been paid; or

(ii) believed on reasonable grounds that the duty had been paid or its payment deferred or that the liability to pay the duty had not yet taken effect.

170B Offence of taking preparatory steps for evasion of excise duty.

(1) If any person is knowingly concerned in the taking of any steps with a view to the fraudulent evasion, whether by himself or another, of any duty of excise on any goods, he shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a penalty of the prescribed sum or of three times the amount of the duty, whichever is the greater, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both; and

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a penalty of any amount or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years or to both.

(2) Where any person is guilty of an offence under this section, the goods in respect of which the offence was committed shall be liable to forfeiture.”

Commencement Information

I1 Sch. 2 para. 8 wholly in force; Sch. 2 para. 8 not in force at Royal Assent see s. 3(2); Sch. 2 para. 8 partly in force at 9.12.1992 by S.I. 1992/3104, art. 2(1)(2), Sch. 2 para. 8 wholly in force at 1.6.1993 by S.I. 1993/1341, art. 2, Sch.