Customs and Excise Management Act 1979

93 Regulation of warehouses and warehoused goods.U.K.

[F1(A1)In their application to warehouses, this section and sections 94, 95, 97 and 98 apply only to excise warehouses.]

[F2(1)The Commissioners may by regulations under this section (referred to in this Act as “warehousing regulations”)—

(a)prohibit the deposit or keeping of goods in a warehouse except where the occupier of the warehouse has been approved by the Commissioners in accordance with the regulations and where such conditions as may be prescribed in relation to that occupier are satisfied;

(b)otherwise regulate the deposit, keeping, securing and treatment of goods in a warehouse;

(c)make provision with respect to goods which are required to be deposited in a warehouse;

(d)regulate the removal of goods from a warehouse and make provision with respect to goods which have lawfully been permitted to be removed from a warehouse without payment of duty; and

(e)make provision, in relation to goods which have been warehoused or are required to be deposited in a warehouse with respect to the keeping, preservation and production of records and the furnishing of information.]

(2)Warehousing regulations may, without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) above, include provisions—

(a)imposing or providing for the imposition under the regulations of conditions and restrictions subject to which goods may be deposited in [F3secured in], kept in or removed from warehouse or made available there to their owner for any prescribed purpose;

(b)requiring goods deposited in warehouse to be produced to or made available for inspection by an officer on request by him;

(c)permitting the carrying out on warehoused goods of such operations F4as may be prescribed by or allowed under the regulations in such manner and subject to such conditions and restrictions as may be imposed by or under the regulations;

(d)for determining, for the purpose of charging or securing the payment of duty, the duties of customs or excise and the rates thereof to be applied to warehoused goods (other than goods falling within section 92(2)(b) above) and in that connection—

(i)for determing the time by reference to which warehoused goods are to be classified;

(ii)for determining the time at which warehoused goods are to be treated as having been removed from warehouse;

(iii)for ascertaining the quantity which is to be taken as the quantity of warehoused goods;

[F5(da)providing for all or any prescribed purposes of the customs and excise Acts—

(i)for goods to be treated as warehoused where in a prescribed case they are in the custody or under the control of an approved occupier of a warehouse; and

(ii)for goods to be treated, at such times before the excise duty point for those goods as may be prescribed or as may be determined under the regulations, as goods which are required to be deposited in a warehouse;

(db)providing for the revocation of the approval under regulations of any occupier of a warehouse and applying, with modifications, any of the provisions of section 98 below in relation to such a revocation or to cases where such an approval is not renewed;]

(e)enabling the Commissioners to allow goods to be removed from warehouse without payment of duty in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as they may determine;

[F6(ee)providing that goods which are [F7required to be deposited in a warehouse], or which have been lawfully permitted to be removed from a warehouse without payment of duty, are to be treated as if, for all or any prescribed purposes of the customs and excise Acts, they were warehoused;]

(f)permitting goods to be destroyed or abandoned to the Commissioners without payment of customs duty in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as they may determine.

[F8(fa)requiring goods which are required to be deposited in a warehouse or which have lawfully been permitted to be removed from a warehouse without payment of duty to be accompanied by such documents in such form and containing such particulars as may be prescribed;

(fb)imposing or providing for the imposition under the regulations of requirements on persons concerned in any prescribed respect with the carriage of such goods to keep and preserve the documents that are required to accompany the goods;

(fc)imposing or providing for the imposition under the regulations of requirements on a person so concerned to produce or cause to be produced any documents which are required to accompany any goods by virtue of paragraph (fa) above to an officer when required to do so for the purpose of allowing the officer to inspect them, to copy or take extracts from them or to remove them at a reasonable time and for a reasonable period;]

[F9(g)imposing or providing for the imposition under the regulations of requirements on the occupier of a warehouse or the proprietor of goods in a warehouse or goods which have been in or are [F10required] to be deposited in a warehouse to keep and preserve such records as may be prescribed relating to his occupation of the warehouse or proprietorship of the goods;

(h)imposing or providing for the imposition under the regulations of requirements on such an occupier or proprietor to preserve all other records kept by him for the purposes of any relevant business or activity, except any records which (or records of a class which) the Commissioners specify as not needing preservation;

(j)imposing or providing for the imposition under the regulations of requirements on such an occupier or proprietor to produce or cause to be produced any records which he has been required to preserve by virtue of paragraph (g) or (h) above to an officer when required to do so for the purpose of allowing the officer to inspect them, to copy or take extracts from them or to remove them at a reasonable time and for a reasonable period;

(k)imposing or providing for the imposition under the regulations of requirements on such an occupier or proprietor to furnish the Commissioners with any information relating to any relevant business or activity which they specify as information which they think it is necessary or expedient for them to be given for the protection of the revenue;

(l)allowing a requirement to preserve any records which has been imposed by virtue of paragraph (h) above to be discharged by the preservation in a form approved by the Commissioners of the information contained in the records.]

and may contain such incidental or supplementary provisions as the Commissioners think necessary or expedient for the protection of the revenue.

[F11In this subsection “relevant business or activity” means, in relation to an occupier or proprietor, any business or activity of his which includes occupation of a warehouse or (as the case may be) proprietorship of goods in a warehouse or goods which have been in or are [F12required] to be deposited in a warehouse, where the goods are of a kind in which the proprietor trades or deals.]

[F13(2A)Where any documents [F14or records] removed under the powers conferred by subsection [F15(2)(fc) or (j)]above are lost or damaged the Commissioners shall be liable to compensate their owner for any expenses reasonably incurred by him in replacing or repairing the documents [F14or records].]

(3)Warehousing regulations may make different provision for [F16different cases, including different provision for different occupiers or descriptions of occupier, for] warehouses or parts of warehouses of different descriptions or for goods of different classes or descriptions or of the same class or description in different circumstances.

(4)Warehousing regulations may make provision about the removal of goods from one warehouse to another or from one part of a warehouse to another part or for treating goods remaining in a warehouse as if, for all or any prescribed purposes of the customs and excise Acts, they had been so removed; and regulations about the removal of goods may, for all or any prescribed purposes of those Acts, include provision for treating the goods as having been warehoused or removed from warehouse (where they would not otherwise be so treated).

(5)Warehousing regulations made by virtue of paragraph (a) or (c) of subsection (2) above may also provide for the forfeiture of goods in the event of non-compliance with any condition or restriction imposed by virtue of that paragraph or in the event of the carrying out of any operation on warehoused goods which is not by virtue of the said paragraph (c) permitted to be carried out in warehouse.

[F17(5A)Warehousing regulations made by virtue of any of paragraphs (fa) to (fc) or (g) to (j) of subsection (2) above may also provide for the forfeiture of the goods in question in the event of any contravention of, or non-compliance with, any requirements imposed by or under the regulations with respect to any documents or records relating to prescribed goods.]

(6)If any person fails to comply with any warehousing regulation or with any condition [F18restriction or requirement] imposed under a warehousing regulation [F19his failure to comply shall attract a penalty under section 9 of the Finance Act 1994 (civil penalties).].

[F20(7)In this section—

(a)“prescribed” means prescribed by warehousing regulations;

(b)references to goods which are [F21required to be deposited in a warehouse] are references to goods which have been entered for warehousing on importation, which have been removed from a producer’s premises for warehousing without payment of duty [F21which are to be warehoused on drawback or which are otherwise to be treated by virtue of subsection (2)(da)(ii) above as goods which are required to be deposited in a warehouse].]

Subordinate Legislation Made

P1S. 93: s. 93 power exercised (11.11.1991) by S.I. 1991/2564

S. 93: s. 93 power exercised (04.12.1991) by S.I. 1991/2726

S. 93: for previous exercise of this power, see Index to Government Orders

Textual Amendments

F1S. 93(A1) inserted (13.9.2018 for specified purposes, 31.12.2020 in so far as not already in force) by Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act 2018 (c. 22), s. 57(1)(a), Sch. 7 para. 85 (with savings and transitional provisions in S.I. 2020/1449, reg. 3 and 2020 c. 26, Sch. 2 para. 7(7)-(9)); S.I. 2020/1642, reg. 4(a)