Free Ports Act, 1986

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 6/1986
• Year: 1986

Number 6 of 1986
FREE PORTS ACT, 1986
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Interpretation. 2. Establishment of free ports. 3. Management and control of free ports. 4. Grant of licence to carry on trade, business or manufacture within a free port. 5. Application for licence. 6. Conditions attached to licence. 7. Revocation or variation of licence. 8. Register of licences. 9. Restriction on carrying on of trade, business or manufacture within a free port. 10. Provisions relating to goods brought into a free port. 11. Examination of vehicles, ships, boats, hovercraft and aircraft within 32 kilometres of a free port. 12. Regulations by Minister for Finance. 13. Regulations by Minister. 14. Laying of orders and regulations before the Oireachtas. 15. Expenses. 16. Disposal of moneys payable under Act. 17. Short title, construction and commencement.
Act Referred to Public Offices Fees Act, 1879 42 and 43 Vict., c. 58
Number 6 of 1986
FREE PORTS ACT, 1986
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF FREE PORTS AND FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH. [27th March, 1986]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Interpretation.	1.—In this Act—
	“the Community” means the European Economic Community;
	“Community goods” means goods—
	(a) wholly manufactured or produced in the customs territory of the Community without the addition of goods from countries or territories which are not part of the customs territory of the Community, or
	(b) from countries or territories not forming part of the customs territory of the Community which have been released for free circulation in the Community, or
	(c) manufactured or produced in the customs territory of the Community, either from goods referred to in paragraph (b) or from a combination of goods referred to in paragraph (a) and paragraph (b) of this definition;
	“free port” means an area which, under section 2 of this Act, for the time being constitutes a free port;
	“goods” includes things of every kind whether animate or inanimate;
	“import duties” means customs duties and charges having equivalent effect, as well as agricultural levies and other import charges laid down within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy of the Community or in that of specific arrangements applicable, pursuant to Article 235 of the Treaty establishing the Community, to certain goods resulting from the processing of agricultural products;
	“inward processing” means the procedure under which goods imported into the Community which are liable to import duties may be placed under customs control, without payment of the import duties applicable thereto, for the purpose of being processed and exported outside the customs territory of the Community;
	“land” includes land covered with water and any part of the territorial waters of the State;
	“licence” means a licence granted under section 4 of this Act;
	“the Minister” means the Minister for Communications;
	“non-Community goods” means goods other than Community goods, including, without prejudice to the agreements concluded by the Community with countries which are not member States of the Community for the purposes of the Community transit procedure, goods which, while satisfying the conditions laid down for Community goods, are re-imported into the customs territory of the Community after having been exported from that territory;
	“officer of customs and excise” means any officer of customs and excise or any other officer of the Revenue Commissioners;
	“processing under customs control” means the arrangements under which non-Community goods are allowed into the customs territory of the Community for the purposes of processing which alters their description or state, without being subject to import duties, and the products resulting from the processing being put into free circulation at the rate of import duty appropriate to them;
	“usual forms of handling” means the forms of handling set out in Article 1 of Council Directive No. 71/235/EEC of 21 June, 1971.1
	Establishment of free ports.	2.—(1) The Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Industry and Commerce, may by order declare that, on and after a specified date, the land enclosed within the limits defined by that order shall be a free port for the purposes of this Act.
	(2) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Industry and Commerce, by order amend an order made under this section.
	Management and control of free ports.	3.—(1) Each free port established under this Act shall be under the control and management of such person or persons as may be designated by order by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Industry and Commerce.
	(2) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Industry and Commerce, by order amend or revoke an order made under this section.
	Grant of licence to carry on trade, business or manufacture within a free port.	4.—The Minister may, after consultation with the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Industry and Commerce, grant or refuse to grant to any person a licence authorising the carrying on within a free port of any trade, business or manufacture.
	Application for licence.	5.—(1) Any person may apply to the Minister for a licence.
	(2) Every application shall—
	(a) be in writing,
	(b) be sent to the Secretary, Department of Communications, Dublin,
	(c) specify the trade, business or manufacture to which the applicant desires the licence to relate,
	(d) be accompanied by such information as the Minister may require.
	Conditions attached to licence.	6.—(1) The Minister may, after consultation with the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Industry and Commerce, attach to a licence such conditions as he thinks proper, including conditions in regard to the date, fixed by the Minister after consultation with the licensee, on or before which the licensee shall begin to carry on within a free port the trade, business or manufacture authorised by the licence.
	(2) A licensee who does not comply with a condition attached to the licence shall, in addition to any other penalty to which he may be liable, be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £500.
	Revocation or variation of licence.	7.—(1) The Minister may, at his discretion, revoke a licence if—
	(a) he is satisfied that there has been a breach of a condition attached to the licence, or
	(b) the licensee is convicted of an offence against the Customs Acts.
	(2) The Minister may vary at any time the conditions attached to a licence.
	(3) Before revoking a licence, the Minister shall give not less than twenty-one days' notice of his intention to the licensee and shall consider any representations made to him by the licensee.
	Register of licences.	8.—(1) The Minister shall establish and maintain a register of licences (in this section referred to as “the register”) granted under this Act.
	(2) There shall be entered in the register in respect of each licence—
	(a) the name of the person to whom the licence was granted, and
	(b) the trade, business or manufacture to which the licence relates.
	(3) The register shall be kept in the Department of Communications, Dublin, and...