S.I. No. 106/1960 - Imposition of Duties (No. 91) (Newspapers and Periodicals) Order, 1960.

The Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 1 of the Imposition of Duties Act, 1957 (No. 7 of 1957), hereby order as follows :

1. This Order may be cited as the Imposition of Duties (No. 91) (Newspapers and Periodicals) Order, 1960.

2. A duty of customs at the rate of one penny per copy shall be charged, levied and paid on each of the following articles imported on or after the 31st day of May, 1960, that is to say, newspapers and periodicals which are wholly or mainly in the English language, are imported in bulk quantities and of which the superficial area of page or front cover does not exceed three hundred and twenty square inches, excluding—

(a) daily newspapers,

(b) newspapers and periodicals which are shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners to be trade, craft, trade union, scientific, religious or educational publications,

(c) any newspaper in respect of which it is shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that the average circulation per issue in the State does not exceed six thousand copies,

(d) foreign Government publications.

3. The provisions of section 8 of the Finance Act, 1919, shall apply to the duty imposed by this Order with the substitution of "the area of application of the Acts of the Oireachtas" for "Great Britain and Ireland" and as though the articles chargeable with that duty were mentioned separately in the first column of the Second Schedule to that Act and three-quarters of the full rate of that duty were specified in respect of those articles in the second column of that Schedule.

4. Where it is shown to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that any newspaper or periodical on which the duty imposed by this Order has been paid has not been used in the State and has been exported and returned to the publishers thereof by the importer thereof and that credit has been allowed by the publishers to the importer in respect of the newspaper or periodical, the Revenue Commissioners may, subject to compliance with such conditions as they may think fit to impose, repay the said duty so paid on the newspaper or periodical.

5. Where the Revenue Commissioners are satisfied that any article chargeable with the duty imposed by this Order is imported for the use of a library which is not a proprietary library conducted mainly for profit, the Revenue Commissioner may, subject to compliance with such conditions as they may think fit to impose, permit the article to be imported without payment of the duty.

6. The duty imposed by section 13 of and mentioned at reference number 3 in the Second Schedule to the Finance Act, 1932 (No. 20 of 1932), shall not be charged or levied on newspapers or periodicals which are imported on or after the 31st day of May, 1960.

7.—(1) Section 8 of the Finance Act, 1933 (No. 15 of 1933), shall have effect as if in paragraph (c) of subsection (2) "two thousand" were substituted for "one thousand".

(2) The Emergency Imposition of Duties (No. 370) (Special Import Levy) Order, 1956 ( S.I. No. 45 of 1956 ), shall have effect as if "2,000" were substituted for "1,000" in the second column of the Schedule thereto at reference number 66.

(3) Subparagraphs (1) and (2) of this paragraph shall have effect as respects articles imported on or after the 31st day of May, 1960.

8. The duty imposed by this Order is hereby placed under the care and management of the Revenue Commissioners.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Government, this 27th day of May, 1960.

SEÁN F. LEMASS,

Taoiseach.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

This Order exempts daily newspapers with an average daily circulation in the State not exceeding 2,000 copies imported on or after 31st May, 1960, from the customs duty and special import levy on daily newspapers. Hitherto the circulation limit for such exemption was 1,000 copies.

The Order also terminates with effect from 31st May, 1960, the customs duty on non-daily newspapers with an average circulation per issue in the State not exceeding 6,000 copies.