(1)After section 55A of the M1Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 there shall be inserted the following section—
(1)For the purposes of this Act, any liquor which would apart from this section be cider and which—
(a)is in an up-labelled container, or
(b)has, at any time after 31st December 1996 when it was in the United Kingdom, been in an up-labelled container,
shall be deemed to be made-wine, and not cider.
(2)Accordingly, references in this Act to producing made-wine include references to—
(a)putting cider in an up-labelled container; or
(b)causing a container in which there is cider to be up-labelled.
(3)For the purposes of this Act, where any liquor is deemed by this section to be made-wine, it shall be deemed—
(a)if it is in an up-labelled container, to be made-wine of the strength that the labelling for the container states or tends to suggest; and
(b)if it is no longer in an up-labelled container, to be made-wine of the strength stated or suggested by the labelling for the up-labelled container in which it was contained when it was first deemed b this section to be made-wine.
(4)Subsection (3)(a) above has effect subject to any provision that may be made by regulations under section 2(3) above.
(5)Where, by virtue of this section, any duty is charged under section 55 above on any liquor, a rebate shall be allowed in respect of the amount of any duty charged on that liquor under section 62 below.
(6)For the purposes of this section a container is up-labelled if the labelling for the container states or tends to suggest that the strength of any liquor in that container is or exceeds 8.5 per cent.
(7)In this section references to the labelling for any container are references to anything on—
(a)the container itself,
(b)a label or leaflet attached to or used with the container, or
(c)any packaging used for or in association with the container.”
(2)In section 1 of that Act (interpretation)—
(a)in subsection (5) (meaning of “made-wine”), after “subsection (10)” there shall be inserted “ and section 55B(1) ”; and
(b)in subsection (6) (meaning of “cider”), after “means” there shall be inserted “ , subject to section 55B(1) below, ”.
(3)In section 2(3A) of that Act (regulations may provide for duty to be charged by reference to strengths shown on bottle labels)—
(a)after the word “beer,”, in the first place where it occurs, there shall be inserted “ cider, ”; and
(b)for the words “spirits, beer, wine or made-wine”, in the second place where they occur, there shall be substituted “ liquor in that bottle or other container ”.
(4)In section 56(1)(c) of that Act (restriction on use of wine in production of made-wine), after “of wine” there shall be inserted “ or cider ”.
(5)Subsections (1) and (2) above shall be deemed to have come into force on 1st January 1997.