The Statistics of Trade (Customs and Excise) Regulations 1992

• Citation: S.I. 1992/2790
• Sections: 14

Section 1 Citation, commencement and interpretation

(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Statistics of Trade (Customs and Excise) Regulations 1992 and shall come into force on 1st December 1992.

(2) In these Regulations—

“the Act” means the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 ;

...

...

...

“authorised person” means any person acting under the authority of the Commis sioners;

...

...

...

“document” includes in addition to a document in writing—

any photograph;

any disc, tape, sound track or other device in which sounds or other data (not being visual images) are recorded so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other equipment) of being reproduced therefrom; and

any film, negative, tape or other device in which one or more visual images are recorded so as to be capable (as aforesaid) of being reproduced therefrom;

“film” includes a microfilm;

...

“Intrastat” refers to the data collection system established and implemented by as when the Statistics of Trade (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019, regulation 6 comes into force —

Council and European Parliament Regulation (EC) No 638/2004 (“establishing Regulation”); and

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1982/2004 (“implementing Regulation”);

...

“periodic declaration” refers to the means of providing the simplified information in regulations 3(1) and 3(2) (VAT return) or to a supplementary declaration in regulation 4;

...

...

...

...

...

...

(3) In these Regulations, unless defined above, words and expressions shall have the meanings assigned to them by section 1 of the Act or have the same meaning as in the establishing or implementing Regulation .

Section 2 Application of Intrastat

(1) For the purposes of the United Kingdom’s statistical territory (see Article 4(1) of the establishing Regulation) (the United Kingdom) , Intrastat is under the care and management of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise (the “Commissioners”).

(2) For the purposes mentioned in paragraph (1), the Commissioners are—

(a) “customs” within Article 5(2) of the establishing Regulation (provision to national authority of statistical information on other goods at least once a month);

(b) the “national authority” within—

(i) Articles 5(2), 8(1), 8(2), 9(1) and 11 of the establishing Regulation (other goods, etc.; register of intra-Community operators; identification of parties responsible for providing information; information that must be collected; statistical confidentiality); and

(ii) Articles 5, 13(4), 17(4), 21(4), 22(4) and 23(2) of the implementing Regulation (identification of persons who have declared goods for fiscal purposes; simplification for certain individual transactions; access to additional data sources in the case of vessels and aircraft, sea products, spacecraft and electricity);

(c) the “tax administration” within—

(i) Articles 8(2) and 8(3) of the establishing Regulation (duty to furnish lists of persons who have declared that they have supplied goods to or acquired goods from other Member States; duty to furnish information provided for fiscal purposes which could improve quality of statistics; duty to bring the Intrastat obligations to the attention of VAT-registered traders); and

(ii) Article 5 of the implementing Regulation (duty to provide specified information to identify persons who have declared goods for fiscal purposes).

(3) Also, for the purposes mentioned in paragraph (1), the duties or discretions expressed in the following Articles as those of the “Member States” must be performed or exercised by the Commissioners—

(a) Articles 10(6), 12 and 13 of the establishing Regulation (sending information on thresholds to Commission; transmission of that data; quality of that data and yearly quality report to Commission); and

(b) Articles 10, 16(2), 18, 19(3), 20(3), 23(3), 24(2), 25(2), 25(4) to 25(7) and 26(1) of the implementing Regulation (reporting nature of transaction; application of specific rules for staggered consignments, motor vehicle and aircraft parts, goods delivered to vessels and aircraft, offshore installations, electricity, military goods; transmission of data to Commission; yearly quality report to Commission).

(4) The Commissioners may do anything necessary for and reasonably incidental to any Article mentioned in paragraphs (2) and (3).

This paragraph is additional to any other basis for their doing so.

(5) For the purposes of Article 9 of the establishing Regulation (information that must or may be collected), the Commissioners must only collect information in accordance with Regulations 3, 4 and 4A (simplified information and supplementary declaration).

Section 3 Information collected on the value added tax return

(1) The Commissioners may treat the following information collected in accordance with regulations made under section 58 of, and Schedule 11 paragraphs 2(1) and 2(11) to, the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (information collected on the VAT return) for Intrastat purposes (see Article 10(1) of the establishing Regulation)—

(a) information about the value of supplies exports of goods and related costs to ... Member States;

(b) information about the value of acquisitions imports of goods and related costs from ... Member States.

(2) If the annual value of ... ‘dispatches’ (see Articles 3, 7, and 10(2) of the establishing Regulation) of a party is at or below £250,000, that party may be treated as exempt from providing Intrastat information concerning dispatches, and therefore that party is not subject to regulation 4 (supplementary declarations) in respect of such information.

(3) If the annual value of ... ‘arrivals’ (see Articles 3, 7, and 10(2) of the establishing Regulation) of a party is at or below £1,500,000 , that party may be treated as exempt from providing Intrastat information concerning arrivals, and therefore that party is not subject to regulation 4 (supplementary declarations) in respect of such information.

Section 4 Supplementary declarations

(1) A party that in relation to the United Kingdom is responsible for providing the information (see Article 7 of the establishing Regulation) must provide it to the Commissioners by means of electronic communication in the appropriate form specified in a current Commissioners’ direction.

(2) That party must provide all the information sought by the appropriate form, in accordance with the establishing and implementing Regulations.

(3) But that party need provide the “delivery terms” information sought by the appropriate form only if that party’s annual value of ... trade relevant to that form (namely, value of “arrivals” or value of “dispatches”) exceeds £24,000,000 .

(4) That party must use the coding mentioned in Article 11 of the implementing Regulation in providing any “delivery terms” information pursuant to paragraph (1) and this paragraph (and see also Article 9(2)(d) of the establishing Regulation).

(5) That party must deliver the completed supplementary declaration to the Commissioners no later than the 21st day of the month following the end of the reference period to which it relates.

(6) Only the reference period in Article 6(a) of the establishing Regulation applies in relation to the supplementary declaration (“calendar month of dispatch or arrival of the goods”.)

(7) But the reference periods in Article 3 of the Implementing Regulation may be used instead if a current Commissioners’ direction so permits in the interests of better administration (“calendar month” of “chargeable event” or in which “declaration is accepted”).

(8) A direction under paragraph (1) ... is not current for the purposes of the relevant paragraph to the extent that it is varied, replaced or revoked by another Commissioners’ direction.

Section 4A Administration of rules concerning specific goods and movements

(1) The Commissioners must give directions as to matters of administration for the proper application of these Regulations in the case of the rules set out in Articles 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 of the implementing Regulation (rules concerning specific goods and movements – staggered consignments, vessels and aircraft, goods delivered to vessels and aircraft, offshore installations, sea products, spacecraft, electricity, military goods).

(2) The Commissioners may give such a direction in the case of the rules set out in Articles 15 and 18 of that Regulation (industrial plant, motor vehicle and aircraft parts).

(3) Regulation 4 (supplementary declarations) is subject to every current direction under this regulation.

(4) A direction is not current for the purposes of paragraph (3) to the extent that it is varied, replaced or revoked by another such direction.

Section 5 Duty to keep and retain records

(1) Every person who is mentioned in the register of intra-Community operators, shall—

(a) keep a copy of every periodic declaration ... he makes or delivers or which is made or delivered on his behalf;

(b) keep copies of all documents which he or anyone acting on his behalf used for the purpose of compiling his periodic declarations ;

(c) produce or cause to be produced periodic declarations and documents mentioned in paragraphs (a) and (b) above when required to do so by an authorised person;

(d) permit an authorised person exercising the powers mentioned in paragraph (c) above to make copies or extracts of those periodic declarations and documents or to remove them for a reasonable period.

(2) The Commissioners may require periodic declarations and documents mentioned in paragraph (1) above to be preserved for such period not exceeding six years as they may require.

(3) For the purpose of exercising any powers granted by this regulation an authorised person may at any reasonable time enter premises used in connection with the carrying on of a business by a person mentioned in the register of intra-Community operators or another person compiling periodic declarations on his behalf.

Section 6 Offences and evidence

(1) If any person required to deliver a supplementary declaration in accordance with these Regulations fails to do so he shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale .

(2) Any failure to deliver a supplementary declaration includes a failure to provide such supplementary declaration in the form and manner required by these Regulations ....

(3) Subject to paragraph (4) below, for the purpose of the rules against charging more than one offence in the same information—

(a) failure to deliver one or more supplementary declarations of trade in goods dispatched to ... Member States for any given reference period shall constitute one offence; and

(b) failure to deliver one or more supplementary declarations of trade in goods arriving from ... Member States for any given reference period shall constitute one offence.

(4) If the failure in respect of which a person is convicted under paragraph (1) above is continued after the conviction he shall be guilty of a further offence and may on summary conviction thereof be punished accordingly.

(5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(5A) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

(7) In any proceedings for an offence mentioned in this regulation it shall be a defence for the accused to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of such an offence by himself, any person under his control or any person to whom he transferred the task of providing information in accordance with and subject to Article 7(2) of the establishing Regulation .

(8) Liability to a penalty under paragraphs (1) and (2) does not arise in relation to a failure under paragraph (1) of regulation 4 if a party satisfies the Commissioners that there is a reasonable excuse for the failure.

(9) For the purposes of paragraph (8), where a party relies on any other person to do anything, that is not a reasonable excuse unless that party took reasonable care to avoid the relevant act or failure.

Section 7 Offences and evidence

(1) In any legal proceedings, whether civil or criminal, where any question arises concerning a document furnished , provided, delivered or created for the purposes of the Intrastat system this regulation shall apply.

(2) Where any document does not consist of legible visual images its ... content may be proved in any proceedings by production of a copy of the information in the form of legible visual images.

Section 8

(1) A certificate of the Commissioners—

(a) that a person was or was not a party responsible for providing information in accordance with the Intrastat system;

(b) that a person was or was not mentioned in the register of intra-Community operators;

(c) that any information required for purposes connected with the Intrastat system has not been given or had not been given at any date;

(d) that a copy produced in accordance with paragraph (2) of regulation 7 above is, both as to form and content, identical to that received by electronic means in accordance with regulation 4(1) above

shall be sufficient evidence of that fact until the contrary is proved.

(2) A photograph of any document furnished , provided or delivered to the Commissioners for the purposes of these Regulations and certified by them to be such a photograph shall be admissible in any proceedings, whether civil or criminal, to the same extent as the document itself.

(3) Any document purporting to be a certificate under paragraph (1) or (2) above shall be deemed to be such a certificate until the contrary is proved.

Section 9 Access to recorded information

(1) Where, on an application by an authorised person, a justice of the peace or, in Scotland, a justice (within the meaning of section 462 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 ) is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for believing—

(a) that an offence in connection with the Intrastat system is being, has been or is about to be committed, and

(b) that any recorded information (including any document of any nature whatsoever) which may be required as evidence for the purpose of any proceedings in respect of such an offence is in the possession of any person,

he may make an order in accordance with this regulation.

(2) An order made in accordance with this regulation is an order that the person who appears to the justice to be in possession of the recorded information to which the application relates shall—

(a) give an authorised person access to it, and

(b) permit an authorised person to remove and take away any of it which he reasonably considers necessary,

not later than the end of the period of seven days beginning on the date of the order or the end of such longer period as the order may specify.

(3) The reference in sub-paragraph (2)(a) above to giving an authorised person access to the recorded information to which the application relates includes a reference to permitting the authorised person to take copies of it or to make extracts from it.

(4) Where the recorded information consists of information contained in a computer, an order made in accordance with this regulation shall have effect as an order to produce and, if the authorised person wishes to remove it, in a form in which it can be removed.

Section 10 Access to recorded information

(1) An authorised person who removes anything in the exercise of a power conferred by or under regulation 9 above shall, if so requested by a person showing himself—

(a) to be the occupier of premises from which it was removed, or

(b) to have had custody or control of it immediately before the removal,

provide that person with a record of what he removed.

(2) The authorised person shall provide the record within a reasonable time from the making of the request for it.

(3) Subject to paragraph (7) below, if a request for permission to be granted access to anything which—

(a) has been removed by an authorised person, and

(b) is retained by the Commissioners for the purpose of investigating an offence,

is made to the officer in overall charge of the investigation by a person who had custody or control of the thing immediately before it was so removed or by someone acting on behalf of such a person, the officer shall allow the person who made the request access to it under the supervision of an authorised person.

(4) Subject to paragraph (7) below, if a request for a photograph or copy of any such thing is made to the officer in overall charge of the investigation by a person who had custody or control of the thing immediately before it was so removed, or by someone acting on behalf of such a person, the officer shall—

(a) allow the person who made the request access to it under the supervision of an authorised person for the purpose of photographing it or copying it; or

(b) photograph or copy it, or cause it to be photographed or copied.

(5) Where anything is photographed or copied under sub-paragraph (4)(b) above the photograph or copy shall be supplied to the person who made the request.

(6) The photograph or copy shall be supplied within a reasonable time from the making of the request.

(7) There is no duty under this regulation to grant access to, or to supply a photograph or copy of, anything if the officer in overall charge of the investigation for the purposes of which it was removed has reasonable grounds for believing that to do so would prejudice—

(a) that investigation;

(b) the investigation of an offence other than the offence for the purposes of the investigation of which the thing was removed; or

(c) any criminal proceedings which may be brought as a result of—

(i) the investigation of which he is in charge, or

(ii) any such investigation as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (b)

above.

(8) Any reference in this regulation to the officer in overall charge of the investigation is a reference to the person whose name and address are endorsed on the order concerned as being the officer so in charge.

Section 11

(1) Where, on an application made as mentioned in paragraph (2) below, the appropriate judicial authority is satisfied that a person has failed to comply with a requirement imposed by regulation 10 above, the authority may order that person to comply with the requirement within such time and in such manner as may be specified in the order.

(2) An application under paragraph (1) above shall be made

(a) in the case of a failure to comply with any of the requirements imposed by paragraphs (1) and (2) of regulation 10 above, by the occupier of the premises from which the thing in question was removed or by the person who had custody or control of it immediately before it was so removed, and

(b) in any other case, by the person who has such custody or control.

(3) In this regulation “the appropriate judicial authority” means—

(a) in England and Wales, a magistrates' court;

(b) in Scotland, the sheriff; and

(c) in Northern Ireland, a court of summary jurisdiction, as defined in Article 2(2)(a) of the Magistrates' Court (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 .

(4) In England and Wales and Northern Ireland, an application for an order under this regulation shall be made by way of complaint; and sections 21 and 42(2) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954 shall apply as if any reference in those provisions to any enactment included a reference to this regulation.

Section 12 Supplementary

Where in connection with the operation of the Intrastat system a person is convicted of an offence contrary to section 167(1) or section 168(1) of the Act, section 167(2)(a) and section 168(2)(a) of the Act shall have effect as if, in each case, for the words “6 months” there were substituted the words “3 months”.

Section 13 Supplementary

The following provisions of the Act shall apply to these Regulations as they apply to the customs and excise Acts

Sections 145 to 148 (proceedings for offences, etc.);

Sections 150 to 154 (incidental provisions as to legal proceedings, mitigation of penalties, proof and other matters).