# Customs and Excise Management Act 1979/Part 1

Layout 2
ELIZABETH II
Customs and Excise Management Act 1979
1979 CHAPTER 2
An Act to consolidate the enactments relating to the collection and management of the revenues of customs and excise and in some cases to other matters in relation to which the Commissioners of Customs and Excise for the time being perform functions, with amendments to give effect to recommendations of the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission.[22nd February 1979]
Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I Preliminary
Interpretation. 1.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
    “aerodrome” means any area of land or water designed, equipped, set apart or commonly used for affording facilities for the landing and departure of aircraft;
    “approved route” has the meaning given by section 26 below;
    “approved wharf” has the meaning given by section 20 below;
    “armed forces” means the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the regular army and the regular air force, and any reserve or auxiliary force of any of those services which has been called out on permanent service, or called into actual service, or embodied; ​it is also approved under subsection (2)) of section 92 below, and, except in that section, also includes a distiller’s warehouse;
    “exporter”, in relation to goods for exportation or for use as stores, includes the shipper of the goods and any person performing in relation to an aircraft functions corresponding with those of a shipper;
    “goods” includes stores and baggage;
    “holiday”, in relation to any part of the United Kingdom, means any day that is a bank holiday in that part of the United Kingdom under the 1971 c. 80.Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, Christmas Day, Good Friday and the day appointed for the purposes of customs and excise for the celebration of Her Majesty’s birthday;
    “hovercraft” means a hovercraft within the meaning of the 1968 c. 59.Hovercraft Act 1968;
    “importer”, in relation to any goods at any time between their importation and the time when they are delivered out of charge, includes any owner or other person for the time being possessed of or beneficially interested in the goods and, in relation to goods imported by means of a pipe-line, includes the owner of the pipeline;
    “justice” and “justice of the peace” in Scotland includes a sheriff and in Northern Ireland, in relation to any powers and duties which can under any enactment for the time being in force be exercised and performed only by a resident magistrate, means a resident magistrate;
    “land” and “landing”, in relation to aircraft, include alighting on water;
    “law officer of the Crown” means the Attorney General or in Scotland the Lord Advocate or in Northern Ireland the Attorney General for Northern Ireland;
    “licence year”, in relation to an excise licence issuable annually, means the period of 12 months ending on the date on which that licence expires in any year;
    “master”, in relation to a ship, includes any person having or taking the charge or command of the ship;
    “nautical mile” means a distance of 1,852 metres;
    “night” means the period between 11 pm and 5 am;
    “occupier”, in relation to any bonded premises, means the person who has given security to the Crown in respect of those premises;
    “officer” means, subject to section 8(2) below, a person commissioned by the Commissioners; ​
    “owner”, in relation to an aircraft, includes the operator of the aircraft;
    “owner”, in relation to a pipe-line, means (except in the case of a pipe-line vested in the Crown which in pursuance of arrangements in that behalf is operated by another) the person in whom the line is vested and, in the said excepted case, means the person operating the line;
    “perfect entry” means an entry made in accordance with section 37 below or warehousing regulations, as the case may require;
    “pipe-line” has the meaning given by section 65 of the 1962 c. 58.Pipe-lines Act 1962 (that Act being taken, for the purposes of this definition, to extend to Northern Ireland);
    “port” means a port appointed by the Commissioners under section 19 below;
    “prescribed area” means such an area in Northern Ireland adjoining the boundary as the Commissioners may by regulations prescribe;
    “prescribed sum”, in relation to the penalty provided for an offence, has the meaning given by section 171(2) below;
    “prohibited or restricted goods” means goods of a class or description of which the importation, exportation or carriage coastwise is for the time being prohibited or restricted under or by virtue of any enactment;
    “proper”, in relation to the person by, with or to whom, or the place at which, anything is to be done, means the person or place appointed or authorised in that behalf by the Commissioners;
    “proprietor”, in relation to any goods, includes any owner, importer, exporter, shipping or other person for the time being possessed of or beneficially interested in those goods;
    “Queen’s warehouse” means any place provided by the Crown or appointed by the Commissioners for the deposit of goods for security thereof and of the duties chargeable thereon;
    “the revenue trade provisions of the customs and excise Acts” means—
       (a) the provisions of the customs and excise Acts relating to the protection, security, collection or management of the revenues derived from the duties of excise on goods produced or manufactured in the United Kingdom; ​
       (b) the provisions of the customs and excise Acts relating to any activity or facility for the carrying on or provision of which an excise licence is required; and
       (c) the provisions of the 1972 c. 25.Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1972 (so far as not included in paragraph (b) above);
    “revenue trader” means any person carrying on a trade or business subject to any of the revenue trade provisions of the customs and excise Acts, whether or not that trade or business is an excise licence trade, and includes a registered club;
    “ship” and “vessel” include any boat or other vessel whatsoever (and, to the extent provided in section 2 below, any hovercraft);
    “shipment” includes loading into an aircraft, and shipped" and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;
    “stores” means, subject to subsection (4) below, goods for use in a ship or aircraft and includes fuel and spare parts and other articles of equipment, whether or not for immediate fitting;
    “tons register” means the tons of a ship’s net tonnage as ascertained and registered according to the tonnage regulations of the 1894 c. 60.Merchant Shipping Act 1894 or, in the case of a ship which is not registered under that Act, ascertained in like manner as if it were to be so registered;
    “transit goods”, except in the expression “Community transit goods", means imported goods entered on importation for transit or transhipment;
    “transit or transhipment”, in relation to the entry of goods, means transit through the United Kingdom or transhipment with a view to the re-exportation of the goods in question;
    “transit shed” has the meaning given by section 25 below;
    “vehicle” includes a railway vehicle ;
    “warehouse”, except in the expressions “Queen’s warehouse” and “distiller’s warehouse”, means a place of security approved by the Commissioners under subsection (1) or (2) or subsections (1) and (2) of section 92 below and, except in that section, also includes a distiller’s warehouse; and “warehoused” and cognate expressions shall, subject to subsection (4) of that section, be construed accordingly;
    “warehousing regulations” means regulations under section 93 below.
​(2) This Act and the other Acts included in the Customs and Excise Acts 1979 shall be construed as one Act but where a provision of this Act refers to this Act that reference is not to be construed as including a reference to any of the others.
(3) Any expression used in this Act or in any instrument made under this Act to which a meaning is given by any other Act included in the Customs and Excise Acts 1979 has, except where the context otherwise requires, the same meaning in this Act or any such instrument as in that Act; and for ease of reference the Table below indicates the expressions used in this Act to which a meaning is given by any other such Act—
Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979
    “beer”
    “brewer and brewer for sale”
    “cider”
    “compounder”
    “distiller”
    “distiller’s warehouse”
    “dutiable alcoholic liquor”
    “licensed”, in relation to producers of wine or made-wine
    “made-wine”
    “producer of made-wine”
    “producer of wine”
    “proof”
    “rectifier”
    “registered club”
    “spirits”
    “wine”
Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act 1979
    “rebate”
    “refinery”
Tobacco Products Duty Act 1979
    “tobacco products”
(4) Subject to section 12 of the 1979 c. 3.Customs and Excise Duties (General Reliefs) Act 1979 (by which goods for use in naval ships or establishments may be required to be treated as exported), any goods for use in a ship or aircraft as merchandise for sale by retail to persons carried therein shall be treated for the purposes of the customs and excise Acts as stores, and any reference in those Acts to the consumption of stores shall, in relation to goods so treated, be construed as referring to the sale thereof as aforesaid.
(5) A person who deals in or sells tobacco products in the course of a trade or business carried on by him shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be carrying on an excise licence trade (and to be a revenue trader) notwithstanding that no excise licence is required for carrying on that trade or business.
​(6) In computing for the purposes of this Act any period expressed therein as a period of clear days no account shall be taken of the day of the event from which the period is computed or of any Sunday or holiday.
(7) The provisions of this Act in so far as they relate to customs duties apply, notwithstanding that any duties are imposed for the benefit of the Communities, as if the revenue from duties so imposed remained part of the revenues of the Crown.
Application to hovercraft. 2.—(1) This Part, Parts III to VII and Parts X to XII of this Act shall apply as if references to ships or vessels included references to hovercraft, and the said Parts III to VII shall apply in relation to an approved wharf or transit shed which is not in a port as if it were in a port.
(2) All other provisions of the customs and excise Acts shall apply as if references (however expressed) to goods or passengers carried in or moved by ships or vessels included references to goods or passengers carried in or moved by hovercraft.
(3) In all the provisions of the customs and excise Acts “landed”, “loaded”, “master shipped”, “shipped as stores”, “transhipment”, “voyage waterborne” and cognate expressions shall be construed in accordance with subsections (1) and (2) above.
(4) References in the customs and excise Acts to goods imported or exported by land, or conveyed into or out of Northern Ireland by land, include references to goods imported, exported or conveyed across any part of the boundary of Northern Ireland; and it is hereby declared that in those Acts references to vehicles include references to hovercraft proceeding over land or water or partly over land and partly over water.
(5) Any power of making regulations or other instruments relating to the importation or exportation of goods conferred by the customs and excise Acts may be exercised so as to make provision for the importation or exportation of goods by hovercraft which is different from the provision made for the importation or exportation of goods by other means.
Application to pipe-lines. 3.—(1) In the customs and excise Acts “shipping” and “loading” and cognate expressions, where used in relation to importation or exportation, include, in relation to importation or exportation by means of a pipe-line, the conveyance of goods by means of the pipe-line and the charging and discharging of goods into and from the pipe-line, but subject to any necessary modifications.
(2) In the customs and excise Acts “importer”, in relation to goods imported by means of a pipe-line, includes the owner of the pipe-line.
​(3) Any power of making regulations or other instruments relating to the importation or exportation of goods conferred by the customs and excise Acts may be exercised so as to make provision for the importation or exportation of goods by means of a pipe-line which is different from the provision made for the importation or exportation of goods by other means.
Application to certain Crown aircraft. 4.—(1) The provisions of the Customs and Excise Acts 1979 relating to aircraft shall apply in relation to any aircraft belonging to or employed in the service of Her Majesty other than a military aircraft.
(2) In this section “military aircraft” includes naval and air force aircraft and any aircraft commanded by a person in naval, military or air force service detailed for the purpose of such command.
Time of importation, exportation, etc. 5.—(1) The provisions of this section shall have effect for the purposes of the customs and excise Acts.
(2) Subject to subsections (3) and (6) below, the time of importation of any goods shall be deemed to be—
    (a) where the goods are brought by sea, the time when the ship carrying them comes within the limits of a port;
    (b) where the goods are brought by air, the time when the aircraft carrying them lands in the United Kingdom or the time when the goods are unloaded in the United Kingdom, whichever is the earlier;
    (c) where the goods are brought by land, the time when the goods are brought across the boundary into Northern Ireland.
(3) In the case of goods brought by sea of which entry is not required under section 37 below, the time of importation shall be deemed to be the time when the ship carrying them came within the limits of the port at which the goods are discharged.
(4) Subject to subsections (5) and (7) below, the time of exportation of any goods from the United Kingdom shall be deemed to be—
    (a) where the goods are exported by sea or air, the time when the goods are shipped for exportation;
    (b) where the goods are exported by land, the time when they are cleared by the proper officer at the last customs and excise station on their way to the boundary.
(5) In the case of goods of a class or description with respect to the exportation of which any prohibition or restriction is for the time being in force under or by virtue of any enactment which are exported by sea or air, the time of exportation shall be deemed to be the time when the exporting ship or aircraft ​departs from the last port or customs and excise airport at which it is cleared before departing for a destination outside the United Kingdom.
(6) Goods imported by means of a pipe-line shall be treated as imported at the time when they are brought within the limits of a port or brought across the boundary into Northern Ireland.
(7) Goods exported by means of a pipe-line shall be treated as exported at the time when they are charged into that pipe-line for exportation.
(8) A ship shall be deemed to have arrived at or departed from a port at the time when the ship comes within or, as the case may be, leaves the limits of that port.