Chapter II

Miscellaneous

75. —(1) (a) The duty on bets to which section 24 of the Finance Act, 1926 , relates shall not be charged or levied on bets entered into on or after the commencement of this subsection where such bets—

(i) are entered into—

(I) during a meeting at which a series of greyhound races is held, and

(II) at the place at which such meeting is held,

and

(ii) are in respect of one or more than one event taking place at a place other than at such meeting.

(b) The provisions of paragraph (a) shall not apply to bets entered into by any means of telecommunications.

(2) Subsection (1) shall come into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may, by order, appoint.

76. —Paragraph (aa) (inserted by section 74 (2) of the Finance Act, 1980 ) of subsection (7) of section 43 of the Finance Act, 1975 , shall, as respects the grant of gaming machine licences on or after the 1st day of June, 1996, be amended by the substitution for “£60”, “£120”, “£180” and “£240” (inserted by section 160 (3) (b) of the Finance Act, 1992 ) of “£25”, “£50”, “£75” and “£100”, respectively.

77. — Section 155 of the Finance Act, 1992 , is hereby amended in subsection (1) by the substitution of the following proviso for the proviso to the definition of “excluded business activity”:

“Provided that the provision of entertainment or the sale of snack foods, beverages for consumption on the premises or tobacco products shall be regarded as so related and that the provision of meals shall not be regarded as so related.”.

78. — Section 92 (as amended by section 124 of the Finance Act, 1991 ) of the Finance Act, 1989 , is hereby amended in subsection (1) by the substitution in paragraph (ii) of “10 per cent.” for “20 per cent.”.

79. —(1) In this section—

“the Act of 1994” means the Finance Act, 1994 ;

“the Order of 1975” means the Imposition of Duties (No. 221) (Excise Duties) Order, 1975 (S.I. No. 307 of 1975).

(2) The duty of excise on mineral hydrocarbon light oil imposed by paragraph 11 (1) of the Order of 1975, shall, in lieu of the rate specified in section 84 (1) of the Act of 1994, be charged, levied and paid, as on and from the 24th day of January, 1996, at the rate of £307.65 per 1,000 litres.

(3) For the purposes of the rebate of duty on mineral hydrocarbon light oil provided for in section 56 (3) of the Finance Act, 1988 , section 89 of the Finance Act, 1990 , shall apply as on and from the 24th day of January, 1996, as if the reference therein to section 40 (1) of the Finance Act, 1989 , which, by virtue of section 84 (2) of the Act of 1994, is construed as a reference to section 84 (1) of the Act of 1994, were instead a reference to subsection (2) of this section.

(4) The duty of excise on hydrocarbon oil imposed by paragraph 12 (1) of the Order of 1975, shall, in lieu of the rate specified in section 84 (3) of the Act of 1994, be charged, levied and paid, as on and from the 24th day of January, 1996, at the rate of £243.75 per 1,000 litres.

(5) The duty of excise on substitute motor fuel imposed by section 116 (2) of the Finance Act, 1995, shall, in lieu of the rate specified in the said section 116 (2), be charged, levied and paid, as on and from the 24th day of January, 1996, at the rate of £243.75 per 1,000 litres.

(6) With effect from the 1st day of July, 1996, section 42 (2) of the Finance Act, 1976 , is hereby amended by the substitution of “£14.30 per 1,000 litres” for “£0.085 per gallon” (inserted by section 150 (3) of the Finance Act, 1992 ).

80. —(1) Section 56 of the Finance Act, 1988 , is hereby amended in subsection (3)—

(a) by the insertion in paragraph (b) of “, has a research octane number of 95.4 or less” after “paragraph (a)”, and

(b) by the insertion of the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

“(c) In paragraph (b) ‘research octane number’ means the research octane number measured in accordance with the American Society for Testing and Materials method D2699-94 or other equivalent method.”.

(2) This section shall come into operation on such day as the Minister for Finance may appoint by order.

81. — Section 74 of the Finance Act, 1993 , is hereby amended in paragraphs (a) and (b) by the substitution of “payable” for “charged” in both places where it occurs.

82. —(1) In the Second Schedule “alcohol” means pure ethyl alcohol.

(2) The duty of excise on spirits imposed by paragraph 4 (2) of the Order of 1975, shall be charged, levied and paid, as on and from the 1st day of July, 1996, at the several rates specified in the Second Schedule in lieu of the rate specified in the said paragraph 4 (2) as amended by section 81 (2) of the Finance Act, 1994 .

83. —(1) In this section and in the Third Schedule —

“the Act of 1977” means the Finance (Excise Duty on Tobacco Products) Act, 1977 ;

“cigarettes”, “cigars”, “fine-cut tobacco for the rolling of cigarettes” and “other smoking tobacco” have the same meanings as they have in the Act of 1977, as amended by the Imposition of Duties (No. 243) (Excise Duty on Tobacco Products) Order, 1979 (S.I. No. 296 of 1979), and by Regulations 26 and 29 of the European Communities (Customs and Excise) Regulations, 1992 (S.I. No. 394 of 1992).

(2) The duty of excise on tobacco products imposed by section 2 of the Act of 1977, shall, in lieu of the several rates specified in the Seventh Schedule to the Finance Act, 1995, be charged, levied and paid, as on and from the 24th day of January, 1996, at the several rates specified in the Third Schedule .

84. — Section 7 of the Finance (Excise Duty on Tobacco Products) Act, 1977 , is hereby amended in subsection (3) by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (c):

“(c) A person shall not invite an offer to treat, offer for sale or sell by retail any packet of cigarettes at a price which is higher than—

(i) in the case of cigarettes sold or to be sold by means of a coin-operated vending machine, the nearest multiple of five pence to the price, or

(ii) in all other cases, the price,

being the price on the basis of which that part of the excise duty imposed by section 2 of this Act which is chargeable by reference to the price at which the cigarettes are sold by retail has been charged on the cigarettes in question and any person who so invites, offers or sells shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to an excise penalty of £50 in respect of each such offence.”.

85. —Section 10A (inserted by the Finance Act, 1994 ) of the Finance (Excise Duty on Tobacco Products) Act, 1977 , is hereby amended—

(a) in subsection (1) (as amended by the Finance Act, 1995) by the substitution for “any person who offers for sale or delivery, where such sale or delivery does not take place under a duty-suspension arrangement, in the State relevant tobacco products otherwise than in a pack or packs to which a tax stamp, on which duty at the appropriate amount has been paid, is affixed in the prescribed manner shall be guilty of an offence” of “any person who in the State invites an offer to treat for, offers for sale, sells or delivers or is in the process of delivering relevant tobacco products otherwise than in a pack or packs to which a tax stamp, on which duty at the appropriate amount has been paid in respect of the tobacco products contained therein, is affixed to each such pack in the prescribed manner shall be guilty of an offence unless such an invitation, offer, sale or delivery takes place under a duty-suspension arrangement,”, and

(b) in subsection (2), by the insertion after “shall be guilty of an offence” of “and the stamp shall be liable to forfeiture”.

86. —The Finance (Excise Duties) (Vehicles) Act, 1952 , shall as respects licences taken out for periods beginning on or after the 1st day of October, 1996, be amended in Part I of the Schedule thereto by the substitution of the following clause (vii) of subparagraph (b) of paragraph 5 (inserted by the Finance Act, 1992 ):