Finance Act 2012

Amendment of Chapter 2 (natural gas carbon tax) of Part 3 of Finance Act 2010.

81.— Chapter 2 of Part 3 of the Finance Act 2010 is amended—

(a) in section 66(1), in the definition of “CN Code”, by substituting “Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2031/2001” for “Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 2031/2001”,

(b) in section 67(1), with effect as on and from 1 May 2012, by substituting “€4.10” for “€3.07”,

(c) in section 67(3), with effect as on and from 1 May 2012, by substituting “€0.020” for “€0.015”,

(d) by substituting the following for section 68:

“68.— (1) Tax shall be charged at the time the natural gas is supplied by a supplier to a consumer and, except where subsection (2) applies, that supplier shall be accountable for and liable to pay the tax charged on the natural gas supplied by that supplier.

(2) A consumer shall be liable for any deficiency in the amount of tax paid on a supply, where that deficiency has resulted from false or misleading information furnished to the supplier concerned by that consumer, and no such liability shall attach to the supplier.”,

(e) in section 70 by inserting the following subsection:

“(3) Any supplier that is not established in the State shall make such arrangements with the Commissioners as the Commissioners may require for the payment of the tax and accounting for it, and those arrangements shall include the appointment of a competent person in the State to give effect to them.”,

(f) in section 71(1) by substituting the following for paragraph (a):

“(a) solely for the generation of electricity, or”,

(g) in section 71 by substituting the following for subsection (2):

“(2) Subject to such conditions as the Commissioners may prescribe or otherwise impose, a partial relief from tax shall be granted on any natural gas that is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners to have been supplied for use—

(a) in an installation that is covered by a greenhouse gas emissions permit, or

(b) for environmentally friendly heat and power cogeneration (other than micro-cogeneration within the meaning of Directive 2004/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 16 ), where it is determined, by a competent authority designated for the purpose by the Minister, that such cogeneration meets the requirements for high-efficiency cogeneration under Directive 2004/8/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004.”,

and

(h) in section 71 by inserting the following subsection:

“(3) The relief under subsection (2) shall be calculated as the amount of tax chargeable on the natural gas supplied, less an amount calculated at the rate of €0.54 per megawatt hour.”.

16 OJ No. L52, 21.02.2004, p.50