Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Excise Duties (Northern Ireland Miscellaneous Modifications and Amendments) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (“NIMMA”) for the purposes of the Windsor Framework in the EU withdrawal agreement (“Windsor Framework”). These Regulations amend NIMMA in order to comply with the UK’s obligations under the Windsor Framework in relation to Council Directive (EU) 2020/262 of 19 December 2019 laying down the general arrangements for excise duty (“the 2020 Excise Directive”), by correcting various transposition errors made by the Excise Duties and Value Added Tax (Northern Ireland) (Miscellaneous Modifications and Amendments) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/64) (“the 2023 Regulations”). These Regulations also correct minor textual errors in NIMMA.

Excise provision under the Windsor Framework

Following the adoption of Decision No 1/2023 of the Joint Committee, the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland in the EU Withdrawal Agreement, as amended by that Decision, is now referred to as the Windsor Framework. Decision No 1/2023 and other documents comprising the Windsor Framework can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-windsor-framework.

Article 8 of the Windsor Framework provides that EU law concerning goods listed in Annex 3 of the Windsor Framework will apply to and in the United Kingdom in respect of Northern Ireland. Annex 3 includes Council Directive 2008/118/EC of 16 December 2008 concerning the general arrangements for excise duty and repealing Directive 92/12/EEC (“the 2008 Excise Directive”).

Article 13(3) of the Windsor Framework provides that references in the Windsor Framework to EU legislation shall be read as referring to that EU legislation as amended or replaced. The 2008 Excise Directive has been repealed and replaced by the 2020 Excise Directive, with effect from 13th February 2023. The 2023 Regulations amended UK legislation to implement the Windsor Framework in relation to the 2020 Excise Directive.

Amendments made by these Regulations

The 2008 Excise Directive was transposed in the UK by the Excise Goods (Holding, Movement and Duty Point) Regulations 2010 (S.I. 2010/593) (“the 2010 Regulations”), along with related excise legislation.

Regulation 2 of NIMMA preserves the 2010 Regulations as they had effect immediately before the end of the transitional arrangements provided for by the Withdrawal Agreement (“the Northern Ireland Regulations”). The Northern Ireland Regulations are applied in relation to the holding, movement and taxation of excise goods in Northern Ireland subject to the modifications provided for in Part 1 of NIMMA. The Northern Ireland Regulations preserved by regulation 2 of NIMMA are available from the legislation.gov.uk website at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/593/2020-12-30.

Regulation 1 deals with citation and commencement.

Regulation 3 amends regulation 5 of NIMMA. Various modifications are made to regulation 3 (interpretation) of the Northern Ireland Regulations, to substitute new definitions of “electronic administrative document” and “report of export”, and to insert a new definition of “draft electronic administrative document”.

Regulation 4 amends regulation 18 of NIMMA. A modification is made to regulation 17 of the Northern Ireland Regulations, to substitute a cross reference in that provision to regulation 69(1) of those Regulations for a reference to regulation 63C(1) of those Regulations, in relation to the provision of a guarantee.

Regulation 5 amends regulation 36 of NIMMA. A modification is made to regulation 40 of the Northern Ireland Regulations, to insert a new paragraph (3) into that provision, and to make a consequential amendment to paragraph (1), which clarifies the scope of the application of Part 6 of the Northern Ireland Regulations as a result of other amendments made to that Part by these Regulations.

Regulation 6 amends regulation 37 of NIMMA. A modification is made to regulation 41 of the Northern Ireland Regulations to substitute a new paragraph (7) into that provision. New paragraph (7) places an obligation on the Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) (“the Commissioners”) to send the electronic administrative document to the competent authorities of the EU Member State where an export declaration for excise goods is lodged, in cases where those goods are consigned to the external transit procedure, or are dispatched to a place from where they will leave the customs territory of the EU or Northern Ireland. Regulation 6 also makes a consequential amendment to regulation 37(b) of NIMMA to remove a redundant cross-reference in that provision.

Regulation 7 amends regulation 38 of NIMMA. A modification is made to regulation 42 of the Northern Ireland Regulations, by inserting a new paragraph (4)(e) into that provision. This amendment means that, in future, a consignor of excise goods will be permitted to change the destination shown on an electronic administrative document in order to consign goods to the customs office of exit which is also the customs office of departure for the external transit procedure.

Regulation 8 amends regulation 43 of NIMMA. A modification is made to substitute a new regulation 46 into the Northern Ireland Regulations. New regulation 46 provides for the procedure to be followed by the Commissioners in all cases where an export declaration has been lodged in Northern Ireland in relation to excise goods.

Regulation 9 amends regulation 44 of NIMMA. A modification is made to substitute a new regulation 47 into the Northern Ireland Regulations. New regulation 47 provides for a requirement for the Commissioners to forward a report of export to the consignor using the EU computerised system in cases where an export declaration in relation to excise goods has been lodged in an EU Member State, but the goods have been dispatched from a place in Northern Ireland.

Regulation 10 amends regulation 45 of NIMMA. A modification is made to substitute a new regulation 48 into the Northern Ireland Regulations. New regulation 48 provides for an alternative procedure where a report of export under regulation 46(3), or a notification under regulation 42A(5), of the Northern Ireland Regulations cannot be made or given by the Commissioners due to the unavailability of the EU computerised system.

Regulation 11 inserts a new regulation 45A into NIMMA. A modification is made to substitute a new regulation 48A into the Northern Ireland Regulations. New regulation 48A provides that, for the purposes of regulations 46, 47 and 48 of the Northern Ireland Regulations, a report of export constitutes proof that a movement of excise goods has ended.

Regulation 12 substitutes regulation 68 of NIMMA. A modification is made to substitute a new paragraph (1) into regulation 77 of the Northern Ireland Regulations. Regulation 12 also makes a consequential amendment to regulation 77(2). Regulation 13 inserts a new regulation 68A into NIMMA. A modification is made to insert a new regulation 77A into the Northern Ireland Regulations. These amendments clarify that regulation 77 now only applies to distance selling arrangements where a NI tax representative has been appointed by a consignor in an EU Member State. Alternatively, where a consignor in an EU Member State does not appoint a NI tax representative, they must follow the requirements specified in regulation 77A.

Regulation 14 amends regulation 72 of NIMMA. A modification is made to regulation 81(6)(i) of the Northern Ireland Regulations to substitute an incorrect cross-reference to a “fallback electronic administrative document” with a reference to a “fallback accompanying document”.

Regulation 15 amends regulation 80 of NIMMA. This makes various modifications to Schedule 1 (civil penalties) of the Northern Ireland Regulations in order to ensure that penalties may be consistently imposed in connection with breaches of various provisions of those Regulations.

Any published notices referred to in these Regulations will be published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/holdings-and-movement-notices. A hard copy will be available for inspection free of charge at HMRC, 100 Parliament Street, London SW1A 2BQ.

A Tax Information and Impact Note covering this instrument will be published on the website at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/tax-information-and-impact-notes-tiins/.