Finance Act, 2002

Amendment of section 1 (interpretation) of Finance (Excise Duty on Tobacco Products) Act, 1977.

94.—(1) Section 1 of the Finance (Excise Duty on Tobacco Products) Act, 1977 , is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)—

(i) by substituting “ section 96 of the Finance Act, 2001 ” for “ section 103 (1) of the Finance Act, 1992 ” in the definition of “Community”, and

(ii) by substituting the following for the definition of “cigars” (inserted by section 86 of the Finance Act, 1997 ):

“‘cigars’ means—

(a) rolls of tobacco made entirely of natural tobacco,

(b) rolls of tobacco with an outer wrapper of natural tobacco,

(c) rolls of tobacco with—

(i) a threshed blend filler, and

(ii) an outer wrapper of the normal colour of a cigar covering the product in full, including where appropriate the filter but not, in the case of tipped cigars, the tip and a binder, both being of reconstituted tobacco,

where the unit weight, excluding the filter or mouth-piece, is not less than 1.2 grammes and where the wrapper is fitted in spiral form with an acute angle of at least 30 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the cigar,

(d) rolls of tobacco with—

(i) a threshed blend filler, and

(ii) an outer wrapper of the normal colour of a cigar of reconstituted tobacco, covering the product in full, including where appropriate the filter but not, in the case of tipped cigars, the tip,

where the unit weight, excluding the filter or mouth-piece, is not less than 2.3 grammes and the circumference over at least one-third of the length is not less than 34 millimetres,

(e) products consisting in part of substances other than tobacco but otherwise conforming to the criteria set out in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) provided they have:

(i) a wrapper of natural tobacco,

(ii) a wrapper and binder both of reconstituted tobacco, or

(iii) a wrapper of reconstituted tobacco,

and to which Council Directive No. 95/59/EC of 27 November 1995¹ (as amended) relates;”,

and

(b) in subsection (1A)—

(i) by substituting “suspension arrangement” for “duty-suspension arrangement”, and

(ii) by substituting “ Part 2 of the Finance Act, 2001 ” for “Chapter II of Part II of the Finance Act, 1992 ”.

(2) Subsection (1)(a)(ii) shall come into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order.

¹ O.J. No. L 291, 6.12.1995, p. 40