Finance Act 1997

Hydrocarbon oil duties

6 Rates of hydrocarbon oil duties and of rebates

(1) In section 6(1) of the [1979 c. 5.] Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979, for “£0.3912” (duty on light oil) and “£0.3430” (duty on heavy oil) there shall be substituted “£0.4168” and “£0.3686”, respectively.

(2) In section 8(3) of that Act (duty on road fuel gas), for “£0.2817” there shall be substituted “£0.2113”.

(3) In section 11(1) of that Act (rebate on heavy oil), for “£0.0181” (fuel oil) and “£0.0233” (gas oil) there shall be substituted “£0.0194” and “£0.0250”, respectively.

(4) In section 14(1) of that Act (rebate on light oil for use as furnace fuel), for “£0.0181” there shall be substituted “£0.0194”.

(5) This section shall be deemed to have come into force at 6 o'clock in the evening of 26th November 1996.

7 Ultra low sulphur diesel

(1) In section 1 of the Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979 (definitions of oil)—

(a) in subsection (1), for “(2) to (4)” there shall be substituted “(2) to (6)”; and

(b) after subsection (4) there shall be inserted the following subsections—

“(5) “Gas oil” means heavy oil of which not more than 50 per cent. by volume distils at a temperature not exceeding 240° C and of which more than 50 per cent. by volume distils at a temperature not exceeding 340° C.

(6) “Ultra low sulphur diesel” means gas oil the sulphur content of which does not exceed 0.005 per cent. by weight or is nil.”

(2) In section 6 of that Act (excise duty on hydrocarbon oil), in subsection (1) (as amended by section 6 above), for the words from “the rate of £0.4168” to the end of the subsection there shall be substituted “the rates specified in subsection (1A) below.”

(3) After subsection (1) of that section there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(1A) The rates at which the duty shall be charged are—

(a) £0.4168 a litre in the case of light oil;

(b) £0.3586 a litre in the case of ultra low sulphur diesel; and

(c) £0.3686 a litre in the case of heavy oil which is not ultra low sulphur diesel.”

(4) In subsection (3) of that section, for “that subsection” there shall be substituted “subsection (1A) above”.

(5) In section 11(1) of that Act (rebate on heavy oil)—

(a) in paragraph (b), after “gas oil” there shall be inserted “which is not ultra low sulphur diesel”;

(b) for the word “and” at the end of that paragraph there shall be substituted—

“(ba) in the case of ultra low sulphur diesel, of £0.0250 a litre less than the rate at which the duty is for the time being chargeable; and”; and

(c) in paragraph (c), for “other than fuel oil and” there shall be substituted “which is neither fuel oil nor”.

(6) In section 13AA(6) of that Act (rate for rebated gas oil), for “section 6(1) above in the case of heavy oil” there shall be substituted “section 6(1A) above in the case of heavy oil which is not ultra low sulphur diesel,”.

(7) In subsection (1) of section 24 of that Act (control of use of duty-free and rebated oil), after “section 9(1) or (4),” there shall be inserted “section 11,”.

(8) In section 27(1) of that Act (interpretation)—

(a) after the definition of “aviation gasoline” there shall be inserted the following definition—

““gas oil” has the meaning given by section 1(5) above;” and

(b) after the definition of “road vehicle” there shall be inserted the following definition—

““ultra low sulphur diesel” has the meaning given by section 1(6) above.”

(9) In Schedule 2A to that Act (mixing of heavy oil)—

(a) in paragraph 4(a), after “section 11(1)(b)” there shall be inserted “or (ba)”;

(b) in paragraph 6(b), after “section 11(1)(b)” there shall be inserted “or (ba)”;

(c) after paragraph 6 there shall be inserted—

“Mixing different types of partially rebated gas oil

6A A mixture of heavy oils is produced in contravention of this paragraph if such a mixture is produced by mixing—

(a) ultra low sulphur diesel in respect of which a rebate has been allowed under section 11(1)(ba) of this Act; and

(b) gas oil in respect of which a rebate has been allowed under section 11(1)(b) of this Act.”;

(d) in paragraph 7 (complex mixtures of heavy oils), for the words from “if such a mixture” to the end of the paragraph there shall be substituted “if the production of a mixture of two of the components of that mixture is a contravention of any of paragraphs 4 to 6A above.”;

(e) in paragraph 8(4) (rate for light oil), for “section 6(1)” there shall be substituted “section 6(1A)”;

(f) in paragraph 9(2) (rate for heavy oil), for “in the case of heavy oil by section 6(1) of this Act” there shall be substituted “by section 6(1A) of this Act in the case of heavy oil which is not ultra low sulphur diesel”; and

(g) in paragraph 11 (interpretation), for ““fuel oil” and “gas oil” have the same meanings

““fuel oil” has the same meaning”.

(10) This section shall come into force on such day as the Commissioners of Customs and Excise may by order made by statutory instrument appoint.