Finance Act 2005

Chapter 3

Tobacco Products Tax

Interpretation (Chapter 3).

71.—(1) In this Chapter and in Schedule 2, except where the context otherwise requires—

“authorised warehousekeeper” means a person authorised by the Commissioners to produce, process, hold, receive or dispatch in the course of business, excisable products under a suspension arrangement;

“cigarettes” means—

(a) rolls of tobacco capable of being smoked as they are and which are not cigars,

(b) rolls of tobacco which, by simple non-industrial handling, are inserted into cigarette paper tubes or wrapped in cigarette paper,

(c) products consisting in whole or in part of substances other than tobacco but otherwise conforming to the criteria set out in paragraph (a) or (b),

and to which Council Directive No. 95/59/EC of 27 November 19951 relates;

“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 1995 relates;

“Commissioners” means the Revenue Commissioners;

“Community” has the meaning assigned to it by section 96 of the Finance Act 2001 ;

“fine-cut tobacco for the rolling of cigarettes” means smoking tobacco in which more than 25 per cent by weight of the tobacco particles have a cut width of less than 1 millimetre and to which Council Directive No. 95/59/EC of 27 November 1995 relates;

“materials” means tobacco in any form and any other substance to be used for incorporation in tobacco products;

“Member State” means a Member State of the Community;

“Minister” means the Minister for Finance;

“officer” means an officer of the Commissioners;

“prescribed” means specified in or determined in regulations made by the Commissioners under section 83 ;

“reconstituted tobacco” means tobacco (whether or not on a backing) that is made by agglomerating tobacco dust or finely divided tobacco derived from tobacco leaves or tobacco refuse and is generally put up in the form of rectangular sheets or strip;

“records” means any books, accounts, documents or other recorded information including information in a computer or in other nonlegible form;

“release for consumption” means—

(a) any departure, including irregular departure, from a suspension arrangement,

(b) any manufacture, including irregular manufacture, of tobacco products outside a suspension arrangement, or

(c) any importation of tobacco products, including irregular importation, where such tobacco products have not been placed under a suspension arrangement;

“smoking tobacco” means—

(a) tobacco which has been cut or otherwise split, twisted or pressed into blocks and which is capable of being smoked without further industrial processing,

(b) tobacco refuse which is put up for retail sale and can be smoked and is not a cigar or cigarette,

(c) products consisting in whole or in part of substances other than tobacco but otherwise conforming to the criteria set out in paragraph (a) or (b),

and to which Council Directive No. 95/59/EC of 27 November 1995 relates;

“specified tobacco products” means cigarettes and fine-cut tobacco for the rolling of cigarettes and any other tobacco products in respect of which an order under section 73 of this Chapter relates;

“suspension arrangement” means an arrangement under which excisable products are produced, processed, held or moved, excise duty being suspended;

“tax” means tobacco products tax imposed by section 72 ;

“tax representative” means a person, established in the State, who is authorised by the Commissioners to act in the State as an agent on behalf of persons delivering excisable products from another Member State;

“tax stamp” means a label issued by the Commissioners under section 73 of this Chapter for the purpose of collecting tobacco products tax;

“tax warehouse” means a premises or place approved by the Commissioners, where excisable products are produced, processed, held, received or dispatched under a suspension arrangement by an authorised warehousekeeper in the course of business;

“tobacco products” means cigarettes, cigars, fine-cut tobacco for the rolling of cigarettes or other smoking tobacco except where such products contain no tobacco and are either—

(a) used exclusively for medical purposes, or

(b) products commonly known as herbal cigarettes or herbal smoking mixtures.

(2) A product shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Chapter to be manufactured when, in the opinion of the Commissioners, it has taken on the essential character of a tobacco product.

(3) Any cigarette which is greater than 9 centimetres in length excluding any filter or mouthpiece shall, for the purposes of tobacco products tax, be treated as if each 9 centimetres or part thereof, of its length were a separate cigarette.

(4) A product shall not be deemed to be a tobacco product unless it is a cigar or cigarette or smoking tobacco.

(5) A word or expression that is used in this Chapter and which is also used in Part 2 of the Finance Act 2001 has, unless a meaning is provided by subsection (1) or the contrary intention otherwise appears, the same meaning in this Chapter as it has in that Part.

1OJ No. L291 of 6.12.1995, p.40