Finance Act 1966

2 Reliefs for shipbuilders in respect of certain duties.U.K.

(1)The provisions of this section shall have effect for the purpose of affording relief in respect of duties of customs and excise chargeable on hydrocarbon oils, vehicle excise duty (including such duty chargeable in Northern Ireland) . . . F1 incurred in connection with the construction and fitting out of certain vessels and other floating structures.

(2)If, on an application made in accordance with directions from time to time given by the Commissioners for the purposes of this section, it is shown to the satisfaction of the Commissioners that a vessel or other structure to which this section applies, having been constructed in the United Kingdom by the applicant pursuant to a contract (whenever made) under which it was to become the property of some other person, was delivered by him pursuant to that contract after the coming into force of this section, the applicant shall, subject to sub-sections (7) to (9) below, be entitled to receive from the Commissioners a payment of an amount determined in accordance with the two next following subsections.

(3)Subject to the next following subsection, the said amount shall be such percentage as the Treasury may by order prescribe of the price payable under the contract in question for the said vessel or structure and all fittings and other equipment supplied by the applicant therewith, or, if that price appears to the commissioners to be greater than the open market value of the vessel or structure and its said fittings and equipment as determined in accordance with Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act and the Commissioners so decide, the prescribed percentage of that value; and an order under this subsection may prescribe different percentages in relation to different descriptions of vessels or structures.

Any price which is expressed in a foreign currency shall be treated for the purposes of this subsection as equivalent to a sum calculated in such manner as the Commissioners may direct.

(4)The price or value referred to in the last foregoing subsection shall, in the circumstances specified in Part II of the said Schedule 1, be treated for the purposes of that subsection as reduced as mentioned in that Part.

(5)The vessels and other structures to which this section applies are as follows—

(a)any ship, within the meaning of the Merchant Shipping Acts 1894 to 1965, the gross tonnage of which, ascertained in accordance with those Acts, is not less than eighty tons; and

(b)any other vessel, or other structure capable of floating on the sea, which is of a description specified in that behalf by an order of the Treasury, and in respect of which any conditions so specified are satisfied:

(6)References in this section to the construction of vessels and other structures do not include references to their reconstruction, refitting or repair.

(7)If, within one month of the coming into force of this section, any person shows to the satisfaction of the Commissioners—

(a)that a vessel or other structure has been, or is to be, delivered to him pursuant to a contract made before 23rd June 1966, and has been, or is to be, exported by him pursuant to another such contract, and

(b)that, by reason of its exportation pursuant to the last-mentioned contract, he is or may become entitled to payment of a rebate under section 7 of the M1Finance (No. 2) Act 1964 (export rebates),

No payment shall be made under this section in respect of the said vessel or structure unless that person either by notice in writing to the Commissioners waives any right to the rebate in question or fails for any reason to become entitled thereto.

(8)No person shall be entitled to a rebate under the said section 7 in respect of any vessel or other structure in respect of which a payment under this section is, or could if applied for have been, made to any other person; and a person who, but for this subsection, would be entitled as respects any vessel or other structure to both such a rebate and such a payment may receive either, as he elects, but not both.

(9)Where in the case of any vessel or structure the whole or any part of the price payable as mentioned in subsection (3) above is not received in accordance with the contract in question by the applicant for a payment under this section, the Commissioners if they think fit may require the applicant to repay the whole or any part of any payment made to him on the application or, as the case may be, may withhold from him the whole or any part of any payment which would otherwise fall to be so made.

(10)It shall be the duty of any person to or by whom a payment under this section has been made or applied for to inform the Commissioners of any event which would entitle them to exercise the powers conferred by the last foregoing subsection, and any person who fails to comply with this subsection shall be liable to a penalty of [F2level 3 on the standard scale].

(11)The provisions of Part III of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect for the purposes of this section.

(12)For the avoidance of doubt it is hereby declared that the allowances referred to in [F3section 1 of the M2Excise Duties (Surcharges or Rebates) Act 1979] do not include payments under this section.

(13)Payments by the Commissioners under this section shall be made out of the sums received by them on account of duties of customs and excise . . . F1; and—

(a)notwithstanding anything in [F4section 3(4) of the M3Vehicle (Excise) Act 1971] . . . F5, the Treasury may give directions for the payment to the Commissioners, at such times and in such manner as the Treasury may determine, out of the duties levied under that Act of such sums as the Treasury think fit having regard to the extent to which payments under this section are designed to afford relief in respect of such duties;

(b)any sums so paid shall be treated for the purposes of [F6section 17 of the M4Customs and Excise Management Act 1979] (disposal of duties of customs and excise) as money received by the Commissioners on account of duties of customs and excise.

(14)Any order under the foregoing provisions of this section may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order, and shall be made by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of the House of Commons.

(15)This section shall come into force on such day as may be appointed by the Treasury by an order under this subsection made by statutory instrument and laid before Parliament after being made, but shall, in its application to any vessel or other structure by virtue of an order under subsection (5) above, have effect as if it had not come into force until such later day, if any, as may be specified in that order.