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Explanatory note

Original text. Later amendments are not shown.

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends the Customs and Excise Duties (Personal Reliefsfor Goods Permanently Imported) Order 1983 (S.I. 1983 No. 1828), whichgives relief from customs and excise duties and VAT on goods importedpermanently into the United Kingdom on a transfer of residence. The newOrder relaxes some of the conditions for relief. The amendments resultmainly from the implementation of Council Directive 89/604/EEC (OJ No.L348, 29.11.89, p.28) which amended Council Directive 83/183/EEC (OJ No.L105, 23.4.83, p.64) and also from a change in the ECU conversion rateand the revocation of certain statutory instruments.

Article 3 refers to statutory instruments which have replaced two of thosementioned in the Order.

Articles 4 and 8 deal with reliefs for wedding gifts. Article 4 increases from £600 to £700 the value of individual wedding gifts that canbe imported free of import charges when a person moves home from outsidethe EC on the occasion of marriage. The change is due to a revision ofthe ECU exchange rate. Article 8 makes a corresponding increase from£600 to £950 in the value of individual wedding gifts forpeople moving on marriage from another EC country. This change derivespartly from the ECU exchange rate revision and partly from an increasein the monetary limit made by the amending Directive.

Articles 5, 6, 9 and 10 deal with personal belongings (other than motor vehicles, caravans, mobile homes, pleasure boats and private aircraft) that are imported from another EC country on a transfer of residence or in connection with furnishing or closing down a secondary residence. They abolish the need for a fixed period of prior use abroad before importation, substituting a simple requirement for“use”; and they abolish the 12-month restriction on subsequent disposalin the United Kingdom. Article 7 similarly abolishes the 12-month disposal restriction on belongings imported from another EC country on a transfer of residence on the occasion of marriage.

Article 11 and the Schedule quadruple the allowances for drink and tobaccoproducts imported when a person moves home from another EC country.