Finance Act, 1963

Relief by order from customs duties.

31.—(1) The Minister for Finance, whenever he considers that it is necessary or expedient to relieve any goods from customs duties chargeable with a view to conforming with an international convention or agreement to which the State is a party and which relates to matters other than commercial relations, may by order provide for the relief of those goods from all or any of those duties in such circumstances and subject to such conditions as may be specified in the order.

(2) An order made under this section may provide for the repayment of any duty paid on goods provided that the goods could, on the date on which the duty was paid, have been imported or delivered without payment of duty in accordance with an order made under this section.

(3) Where a person contravenes, whether by act or omission, a condition specified in an order under this section, such person, without prejudice to any other penalty to which he may be liable, shall be guilty of an offence under the Customs Acts and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a penalty of one hundred pounds; and any article in respect of which the offence was committed shall be liable to forfeiture and the offender may either be detained or proceeded against by summons.

(4) The Minister for Finance may by order revoke or amend an order made under this section.

(5) Every order made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days upon which that House has sat after the order is laid before it, the order shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.