Finance (No. 2) Act 2023

97 Prohibition of use of denatured alcohol etc as beverage or medicine U.K.

(1) It is an offence for a person—

(a) to prepare, or attempt to prepare, denatured alcohol for use as a beverage or as a mixture with a beverage;

(b) to sell denatured alcohol (whether or not prepared as described in paragraph (a)) as a beverage or mixed with a beverage;

(c) to use any denatured alcohol or a derivative of it in the preparation of any article capable of being used as a beverage;

(d) to sell or possess any article capable of being used as described in paragraph (c), in the preparation of which denatured alcohol or any derivative of it has been used;

(e) except as permitted by the Commissioners and in accordance with any conditions imposed by them—

(i) to purify, or attempt to purify, denatured alcohol, or

(ii) after denatured alcohol has once been used, to attempt to recover the spirit or alcohol contained in it by distillation, condensation or in any other manner.

(2) Subsection (1) is subject to subsections (5) and (6).

(3) A person who commits an offence under this section is liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.

(4) Any denatured alcohol, or any article (including packaging or equipment), in respect of which an offence under this section is committed is liable to forfeiture.

(5) No offence is committed under this section where a person uses denatured alcohol or any derivative of it—

(a) in the preparation for use as a medical article (as defined in section 76),

(b) in the making of anything sold or supplied in accordance with regulations made by the Commissioners under section 92, or

(c) in art or manufacture.

(6) No offence is committed under this section where a person sells or possesses anything that—

(a) is permitted to be prepared or made, by reference to paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (5), for a use described in that paragraph, and

(b) is sold or possessed for that use.

(7) In this section, references to denatured alcohol include references to—

(a) methanol, and

(b) any mixture containing denatured alcohol or methanol.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 97 not in force at Royal Assent, see s. 120(2)

I2 S. 97 in force at 1.8.2023 by S.I. 2023/884, reg. 2(1)(e) (with reg. 10)