S.I. No. 136/1993 - European Communities (Intrastat) Regulations, 1993.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Intrastat) Regulations, 1993.

2. These Regulations shall come into operation on the 22 day of May, 1993.

3. (1) In these Regulations— "authorised officer" means an officer of the Revenue Commissioners authorised by them in writing to exercise the powers of an authorised officer referred to in these Regulations;

"the basic Regulation" means Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3330/91 of 7 November, 1991; " the Community Regulations" means the basic Regulation, Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3046/92 of 22 October 1992 and Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 2256/92 of 31 July 1992 and Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3590/92 of 11 December 1992; "the Intrastat system" means the Intrastat system referred to in the basic Regulation in so far as that system applies to trade between Member States pursuant to Articles 17 to 28 of that Regulation; 'Member State" means a Member State of the European Economic Community;

"officer of statistics" has the meaning assigned to it by the

Statistics Act, 1926

(No. 12 of 1926);

"records" means any document or other written or printed material in any form as well as information (including statistical information) stored, maintained or preserved by means of any mechanical or electronic device, whether or not stored, maintained or preserved in a legible form; "trader" means a person referred in Article 20 (5) of the basic Regulation of Article 4 of Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3046/92 of 22 October 1992.

Subject to paragraph (1) of this Regulation, a word or expression that is used in these Regulations and is also used in the Community Regulations shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the same meaning in these Regulations that it has in those Regulations.

4. (

a

) A certificate referred to in paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall not, without the leave of the Court, be admitted in evidence if the defendant concerned has served on the solicitor for the prosecution a notice referred to in paragraph (3) (

b

) of this Regulation within the period mentioned in that provision.

(

b

) If the defendant concerned has served a notice as aforesaid and the facts stated in the certificate are required to be proved, wholly or partly, by oral evidence at the trial of the offence in question the Court shall, unless it is of the opinion that the defendant had good grounds for serving the said notice, order him to pay to the prosecution the costs and witness experses incurred in so proving the said facts.

5. (1) The Taoiseach shall specify from time to time assimilation thresholds for the purposes of Article 28 of the basic Regulation.

(

a

) A specification by the Taoiseach of assimilation thresholds for the purposes of aforesaid shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil as soon as may be after it is made.

(

b

)

Prima facie

evidence of a specification as aforesaid may be given in proceedings for an offence under these Regulations by the production of a copy of the Iris Oifigiúil purporting to contain the specification.

6. A trader who, in purported compliance with Regulation 4 of these Regulations, furnishes or causes or permits to be furnished to the Revenue Commissioners information which is false, misleading or incomplete in any respect shall be guilty of an offence under these Regulations.

7. (1) An authorised officer may at all reasonable times enter any premises or place where he reasonably believes records relating to goods to which the intrastat system applies are kept and may require any person on those premises or in that place to produce to him the said records or such of them as he specifies and may search for, inspect and take copies of, or extracts from, the said records and may remove the said records from those premises or that place for further inspection.

(2) A person who obstructs, hinders or interferes with an authorised officer in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by paragraph (1) of this Regulation or who refuses without lawful excuse to produce to such an officer records which he is required by such an officer to produce under the said paragraph shall be guilty of an offence under these Regulations.

8. (1) All records received or kept by a trader relating to goods in respect of which he is responsible for furnishing statistical information to the Revenue Commissioners under Regulation 4 of these Regulations shall be preserved by him for a period of not less than 2 years from the end of the month to which they relate.

(2) A trader shall produce or cause to be produced to an authorised officer upon request by that officer the records referred to in paragraph (1) of this Regulation or such of them as that officer specifies.

(3) A trader who fails to comply with paragraph (1) of this Regulation or with a request under paragraph (2) of this Regulation shall be guilty of an offence under these Regulations.

9. An officer of statistics shall:—

(

a

) have access to, and, on request, be given by the Revenue Commissioners copies of, the statistical information furnished to the Revenue Commissioners by or on behalf of traders under Regulation 4 of these Regulations,

(

b

) on request, be given such information by the Revenue Commissioners as they deem fit to give relating to goods to which the Intrastat system applies and which has come into their possession through the exercise by an authorised officer of his powers under Regulation 7 or 8 of these Regulations.

10. (1) Statistical information furnished by or on behalf of a trader under Regulation 4 of these Regulations shall not, save with the consent of that trader or for the purposes of a prosecution under these Regulations, be shown or communicated to any person other than an officer of the Revenue Commissioners or an officer of statistics in the course of his official duties.

(2) As far as practicable statistics derived from statistical information furnished by or on behalf of a trader under Regulation 4 of these Regulations shall not be published or disseminated in a manner that would result directly or indirectly in the disclosure of details relating to any business of that trader but nothing in this paragraph shall be held to impose a duty owed to a trader to avoid such a disclosure.

11. (1) A trader who by act or omission fails to comply with a provision of the Community Regulations shall be guilty of an offence under these Regulations.

(2) A person who is guilty of an offence under these Regulations shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of £1,000.

(3) Where a trader is convicted of an offence under Regulation 4 of these Regulations he shall, if the failure in respect of which he is convicted of the offence is continued after conviction, be guilty of a further offence on every day on which the failure continues and for each such offence he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of £50.

(4) Proceedings for an offence under these Regulations may be brought and prosecuted by the Revenue Commissioners.

12. (1) Where an offence under these Regulations is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of a person being a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, that person as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

(2) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with his functions of management as if he were a director of the body corporate.

13. (1) Subject to the provisions of this Regulation, in proceedings for an offence under these Regulations a certificates signed by an officer of the Revenure Commissioners which certifies that he has inspected the relevant records of the Revenue Commissioners and that it appears from them that the trader concerned (who shall be named in the certificate):—

(

a

) was required under Regulation 4 of these Regulations to provide statistical information of a kind and at a time or times specified in the certificate, and failed to do so, or

(

b

) failed, in a manner specified in the certificate, to do a stated act or furnish stated records or particulars in accordance with any of the provisions of these Regulations, shall be

prima facie

evidence that the trader concerned was so required to provide statistical information as aforesaid or, as the case may be, failed to do a stated act or furnish stated records or particulars as aforesaid.

(2) A certificate referred to in paragraph (1) of this Regulation shall:—

(

a

) indicate the rank or position in the Office of the Revenue Commissioners of the officer who has signed it,

(

b

) be admitted in evidence without proof of the signature of that officer.

(3) If in proceedings against a person for an offence under these Regulations it is proposed to tender in evidence a certificate referred to in paragraph (1) of this Regulation the prosecution shall cause to be served on the person not less than 21 days before the commencement of the trial of the offence a copy of the certificate together with a notice informing the person:—

(

a

) that it is proposed to tender the certificate in evidence in the proceedings,

(

b

) that the certificate shall not, without the leave of the Court, be admitted in evidence if the person serves on the solicitor for the prosecution not later than 7 days before the commencement of the trial of the offence a notice objecting to the admissibility of the certificate.

(

c

) that if the person serves a notice as aforesaid and the facts stated in the certificate are required to be proved, wholly or partly, by oral evidence at the trial of the offence the person shall be liable to pay to the prosecution the costs and witness expenses incurred in so proving the said facts unless, in the opinion of the Court, the person had good grounds for serving the said notice.

14. The Revenue Commissioners may, in their discretion, mitigate any fine incurred under these Regulations, or stay or compound any proceedings for recovery thereof, and may also, after judgement, further mitigate or entirely remit such a fine.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 21st day of May, 1993.

ALBERT REYNOLDS,

Taoiseach.

S.I. No. 136 of 1993.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (INTRASTAT) REGULATIONS, 1993.

I, ALBERT REYNOLDS, T.D., Taoiseach, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by

section 3

of the

European Communities Act, 1972

(No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving full effect to Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3330/91 of 7 November 1991

1

, Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3046/92 of 22 October 1992

2

, Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 2256/92 of 31 July 1992

3

and Commission Regulation (EEC) No. 3590/92 of 11 December 1992

4

, hereby make the following Regulations

1

O.J. No. L316, 16.11.91, p.1

2

O.J. No. L307, 23.10.92, p.27

3

O.J. No. L219, 4.8.92, p.40

4

O.J. No. L364, 12.12.92, p.32