Section 92 Power of officer of Revenue and Customs to seize and detain snus etcI1

An officer of Revenue and Customs may, for the purpose of facilitating the exercise by an enforcement authority of any of its functions in relation to the enforcement of a relevant offence, seize any relevant oral tobacco products that have been imported and detain them for not more than 48 hours.

Any products seized and detained under this section must be dealt with during their period of detention in such manner as the Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs may direct.

For the purposes of calculating the 48-hour period mentioned in subsection (1) any period falling on a non-working day is to be disregarded.

In this section—

• “enforcement authority”—

  1. (a)

     in relation to England or Wales, means a local weights and measures authority;

  2. (b)

     in relation to Scotland, means a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994;

  3. (c)

     in relation to Northern Ireland, means a district council;

• “non-working day” means—

  1. (a)

     a Saturday or Sunday, or

  2. (b)

     a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 in any part of the United Kingdom;

• “relevant offence” means an offence under any of the following (which relate to possession of relevant oral tobacco products with intent to supply)—

  1. (a)

     section 9 (England and Wales);

  2. (b)

     section 9C of the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Act 2010 (asp 3) (Scotland);

  3. (c)

     Article 4G of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 (S.I. 1978/1907 (N.I. 26));

• “relevant oral tobacco product” means a tobacco product that—

  1. (a)

     is intended for oral use,

  2. (b)

     is not intended to be inhaled or chewed, and

  3. (c)

     consists wholly or partly of tobacco in powder or particulate form.