Finance Act, 1996

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Amendment of section 16 (qualifying trades) of Finance Act, 1984.

23.— Section 16 of the Finance Act, 1984 , is hereby amended—

(a) in paragraph (a) of subsection (2)—

(i) by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (iib) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1995 ):

“(iib) in respect of—

(I) a relevant investment made on or after the passing of the Finance Act, 1995 , or

(II) a subscription for eligible shares, other than such a subscription consisting of a relevant investment, made on or after the passing of the Finance Act, 1996, and on or before the 5th day of April, 1998, and in respect of which a certificate for the purposes of this Chapter has been issued in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2E) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1996),

and notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph (ii), the rendering of relevant trading operations within the meaning of section 39B of the Finance Act, 1980 (inserted by the Finance Act, 1987 ), which are carried on for the purposes of, or in connection with, trading operations on an exchange facility established in the Custom House Docks Area as defined in section 41 of the Finance Act, 1986 ,”,

and

(ii) by the insertion of the following subparagraph after subparagraph (iiid) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1994 ):

“(iiie) in respect of a subscription for eligible shares made on or after the passing of the Finance Act, 1996, the production, publication, marketing and promotion of a qualifying recording, or qualifying recordings, within the meaning of subsection (2D) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1996),”,

(b) by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection (2C) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1995 ):

“(2D) (a) For the purposes of subparagraph (iiie) of paragraph (a) of subsection (2), a qualifying recording means a recording, in any recording format in any musical style including any associated video directly related to such recording, by a new artist, produced in a studio in the State, in respect of which the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as ‘the Minister‘) has, subject to such conditions as the Minister may consider proper and specifies therein including a condition as to the maximum amount of money which may be raised under the provisions of this Chapter in relation to a qualifying recording, given a certificate to the company which intends to produce the qualifying recording, stating that the recording and any associated video, as aforesaid, may be treated as a qualifying recording for the purposes of this Chapter.

(b) In considering whether to give such a certificate as is referred to in paragraph (a), the Minister shall have regard only to such guidelines as the Minister may, from time to time, lay down with the consent of the Minister for Finance, and those guidelines may, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, include provision for—

(i) the circumstances in which an artist is to be, and continues to be, regarded as a new artist, and

(ii) the manner, extent and timing in which the money to be raised under the provisions of this Chapter by a company for the production, publication, marketing and promotion of a qualifying recording is to be used.

(c) A certificate to which paragraph (a) refers or any condition thereof may be amended, revoked or added to by the Minister, by giving notice in writing to the qualifying company concerned of such amendment, revocation or addition, and the provisions of this section shall apply as if—

(i) a condition as so amended or added by the notice was specified in the certificate, and

(ii) a condition as so revoked was not specified in the certificate.

(2E) (a) In this subsection, ‘certification committee’ means the committee consisting of a chairman and four other members who, from time to time, may be appointed by the Minister for Finance for the purposes of this section.

(b) The certification committee may, subject to such conditions as the committee consider proper and specifies therein including a condition as to the maximum amount of money which may be raised by the company under the provisions of this Chapter, issue a certificate for the purposes of this Chapter to a company, which carries on or intends to carry on qualifying trading operations such as are referred to in subparagraph (iib) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1996) of paragraph (a) of subsection (2) and in respect of which money is raised or intended to be raised by it under the provisions of this Chapter by virtue of clause (II) of the aforesaid subparagraph (iib), where—

(i) on the basis of such information as is supplied to it by the company or which the committee may reasonably request the company to furnish to it, and

(ii) such guidelines for the purpose as may be agreed, from time to time, between it and the Minister for Finance,

it is satisfied that—

(I) the qualifying trading operations carried on or to be carried on by the company will contribute to the development of the exchange facility on which those operations will be carried on, and

(II) the money raised or to be raised by the company under the provisions of this Chapter has the potential to maintain or create a reasonable level of sustainable employment:

Provided that the committee shall not give a certificate to a company under this subsection—

(A) after the 5th day of April, 1998, and

(B) to the extent that the aggregate of all subscriptions made or to be made for eligible shares arising out of the issue of such certificates exceeds £2,000,000.”,

and

(c) in subsection (4), by the substitution in paragraph (b) of the following subparagraphs for subparagraph (ii):

“(ii) the research and development or other similar activity as is referred to in subparagraph (iiic) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1993 ) of paragraph (a) of subsection (2), and

(iii) the production, publication, marketing and promotion of a qualifying recording, or qualifying recordings, as is referred to in subparagraph (iiie) (inserted by the Finance Act, 1996) of paragraph (a) of subsection (2):”.