EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Statutory Rules 1983 No. 306
Amendment of the Excise Regulations
Issued by the Authority of the Minister of State for Industry and Commerce
Regulation 93A of the Excise Regulations provides for a waste allowance of 2.5 percent of duty paid on spirit used to fortify wine or grape must in an approved place.
The purpose of the regulation is to repeal regulation 93A as a consequence of the imposition of excise duty on fortifying spirit as announced by the Treasurer in his Budget speech on 23 August 1983.
The duty on fortifying spirit was abolished in 1970 and the regulation has been inoperative since then.
The method and time of the payment of duty on the spirit is now quite different from that applying prior to 1970 and consequently the provisions of regulation 93A are now redundant.
Under the new arrangements, bona fide losses in approved places, even if greater than 2.5 per cent, will be allowed upon production of evidence of those losses. A regulation placing a ceiling on the allowable losses is therefore inappropriate.