PART V

Excise Duties on Mechanically Propelled Vehicles

Chapter I

General

64. —(1) In this Part—

“the Act of 1920” means the Roads Act, 1920;

“the Act of 1952” means the Finance (Excise Duties) (Vehicles) Act, 1952 ;

“general licence” means a licence issued under section 9 of the Act of 1920;

“licensing authority” means a county council or the corporation of a county borough;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Local Government;

“motor dealer” means a person who carries on the business of manufacturing, repairing or selling vehicles to which this Part applies;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Part;

“public place” means any street, road or other place to which the public have access with vehicles, whether as of right or by permission and whether subject to or free of charge;

“relevant licensing authority” means, in relation to a vehicle, the licensing authority in whose functional area the vehicle is for the time being ordinarily kept or in case the vehicle is not ordinarily kept in a particular such area, the licensing authority in whose functional area is situate the principal place of business of the person by whom the vehicle is kept or the place where he ordinarily resides;

“relevant person”, in relation to a vehicle, means a person whose name is most recently entered in relation to the registration of the vehicle pursuant to the Act of 1920;

“vehicle”, except where the context otherwise requires, means a mechanically propelled vehicle;

“vehicle excise duty” means the duty of excise charged and levied under section 1 of the Act of 1952.

(2) A person shall for the purposes of this Part be regarded as keeping a vehicle in a public place if he causes it to be in such place for any period, however short.

(3) This Part, other than section 79, shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed therefor by order or orders of the Minister, either generally or with reference to any particular purpose or provision and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions of this Part.

65. —(1) The Minister may make regulations for prescribing any matter referred to in this Part as prescribed.

(2) Every regulation made by the Minister under this Part shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

66. —(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, this Part applies to any vehicle in respect of which vehicle excise duty may be charged.

(2) For so long as a vehicle is used under the authority of a general licence sections 70 and 71 of this Act shall not apply to it.

(3) The Minister may by regulations provide for the exemption of persons using or keeping vehicles which are of a class or description specified in the regulations from all or any of the requirements of this Part, other than section 70, in so far as the requirement or requirements to which the regulations relate apply to the vehicles.

67. —(1) Where a person—

(a) keeps for any period a vehicle in respect of which vehicle excise duty is chargeable, and

(b) a licence referred to in section 1 of the Act of 1952 has not been issued in respect of the vehicle,

the person shall, not later than seven days after the commencement of the period, furnish to the relevant licensing authority in the prescribed manner the particulars prescribed for the purposes of this subsection.

(2) Where as regards a vehicle to which this Part applies the relevant person transfers his interest in the vehicle, the person making the transfer shall within the prescribed period notify in the prescribed manner the relevant licensing authority of the transfer and give to that authority the particulars prescribed for the purposes of this subsection.

(3) Every person who on the commencement of this section is a person to whom a licence mentioned in section 1 of the Act of 1952 has been issued, being a licence which is in force on such commencement, shall, as regards the vehicle to which the licence relates, be deemed to have complied with the requirements of subsection (1) of this section.

(4) Regulations made pursuant to section 12 (1) (d) of the Act of 1920 and which are in force on the commencement of this section shall be deemed also to have been made under this Part by the Minister.

(5) Any person who—

(a) fails to comply with a requirement of subsection (1) or (2) of this section, or

(b) in purported compliance with any obligation to which he is subject by virtue of the said subsection (1) or (2), gives any information which he knows to be false in a material particular or recklessly gives information which is so false,

shall be guilty of an offence.