Cap. 382 Art. 2Definitions.

In this Act unless the context otherwise requires -

"aircraft" means any aircraft flying, or intended by the operator to fly, for the purpose of aerial work;

"a typical mode of transport" means the transport of fuels other than in the tanks of vehicles or in appropriate reserve fuel canisters and the transport of liquid heating products other than by means of tankers used on behalf of professional traders in terms of article

14A(4);

"authorised and empowered" means an official that has an identity card issued by the Department of Customs and which shows the power to exercise the powers and duties given to him by the Commissioner by virtue of the provisions of the laws of Malta and the European Union;

"authorised tax warehouse" means a place where excisable goods are produced, processed, held, received or dispatched under duty suspension arrangements by an authorised tax warehouse keeper in the course of his business, subject to certain conditions laid down by the Commissioner;

"authorised tax warehouse keeper" means a natural or legal person authorised by the Commissioner, in the course of his business, to produce, process, hold, receive or dispatch excisable goods under a duty suspension arrangement in a authorised tax warehouse;

"beer production" or "the production of beer" shall be taken to mean the process whereby beer is produced from the fermentation of the wort and any process whereby beer of lower density or specific gravity is derived from beer, whatever its origin, of a higher density or specific gravity. It shall also include the mixing of beer with any non-alcoholic beverage and on either of which no excise duty had been paid such that the resulting admixture contains an actual alcoholic strength by volume exceeding 0.5% vol;

"certified consignee" means a natural or legal person duly registered with the competent authorities of a Member State of destination to receive excisable goods, in the course of his business, which were released for consumption in the territory of one Member State and which are subsequently transferred to the territory of another Member State; "certified consignor" means a natural or legal person duly registered with the competent authorities of a Member State of dispatch to send excisable goods, in the course of his business, which were released for consumption in the territory of one Member State and which are subsequently transferred to the territory of another Member State; "the Community" or "territory of the Community" means the territories of the Member States; "competent authority" means a body or authority which has a supervisory or regulatory role in a Member State in relation to excisable goods; "the Commissioner" has the same meaning assigned to it in the Customs Ordinance; "computer" means any electronic device used for information storage or retrieval and includes a mobile phone or any other electronic means of information storage or retrieval;

"Customs official" means any official of the Department of Customs as authorised and empowered by the Commissioner, by virtue of the relevant legislation and includes any other person having an express or implied authority to act for the said Commissioner in carrying out the provisions of this Act as authorised for this purpose by the applicable legislation; "customs suspensive procedure or arrangement" means any one of the special procedures as provided for under Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 relating to the customs supervision to which non-Community goods are subjected upon their entry into the Community customs territory, temporary storage, free zones or free warehouses, as well as any of the arrangements referred to in Article 84(1)(a) of that Regulation;

"Customs tariff" means the Common Customs Tariff adopted by the European Union;

"duty" and "excise duty" mean the duty imposed by this Act; "duty suspension arrangement" means a tax arrangement applied to the production, processing, holding, storage or movement of excisable goods not covered by a customs suspensive procedure or arrangement, excise duty being suspended; "endangered duty" means the difference between all the duty due on the goods and the duty which has been paid on the same goods; "excise duty due" means all the excise duty due on the goods and includes also the excise duty which has already been paid on those goods; "excisable goods" means any goods of a class or description as listed in the First Schedule, excluding tobacco which is not listed in the Third Schedule; "importation of excisable goods" means the entry into the territory of the Community of excisable goods unless the goods upon their entry into the Community are placed under a customs suspensive procedure or arrangement, as well as their release from a customs suspensive procedure or arrangement; "independent small brewery" and "birrerija indipendenti u żgħira" mean, for the purpose of reduced rates, a brewery which is legally and economically independent of any other brewery, which uses premises situated physically apart from those of any other brewery and does not operate under licence. However, where two

(2) or more small breweries cooperate, and their combined annual production does not exceed two hundred thousand (200,000) hectolitre, those breweries may be treated as a single independent small brewery;

"independent small wine producer" and "produttur tal-inbid indipendenti u żgħir" mean, for the purpose of reduced rates, a wine producer which is legally and economically independent of any other wine producer, which uses premises situated physically apart from those of any other wine producer and does not operate under licence. However, where two (2) or more small wine producers cooperate, and their combined annual production does not exceed one thousand (1,000) hectolitre or twenty thousand (20,000) hectolitre, as appropriate, those wine producers may be treated as a single independent small wine producer; "information in a non-legible form" means information that needs to be deciphered before being understood; "Member State" and "territory of a Member State" means the territory of each Member State of the Community to which the Treaty is applicable, in accordance with Article 299 thereof, with the exception of third territories; "the Minister" means the Minister responsible for customs;

"nicotine pouch" means nicotine containing products intended for the intake of nicotine into the human body, for oral application, excluding products for inhalation, and products intended to assist tobacco use cessation classified under HS Code 2404919000; "non-alcoholic beverage" means a non-alcoholic beverage falling under heading 22.02 of the Customs Tariff; "records" means any books, accounts, documents or other recorded information, including information in a computer or information in other non-legible form;

"registered consignee" means a natural or legal person authorised by the Commissioner, in the course of his business and under the conditions fixed by the Commissioner, to receive excisable goods moving under a duty suspension arrangement from another Member State;

"registered consignor" means a natural or legal person authorised by the Commissioner, in the course of his business and under the conditions fixed by the Commissioner, to only dispatch goods subject to excise duty which are subject to duty suspension upon their release for free circulation in accordance with Article 201 of Regulation (EU) No. 952/2013; "registered merchant" means a physical or legal person authorised by the Commissioner to dispatch and, or receive goods subject to excise duty as mentioned in Schedule Five A, Five B, Five C, Five D, Five E, Five F, Five G and Five H;

"release for consumption" means:

(a) the release of excisable goods, including irregular release, from a duty suspension arrangement;

(b) the holding of excisable goods outside a duty suspension arrangement where excise duty has not been levied pursuant to the applicable provisions of Community law and national legislation;

(c) the production of excisable goods, including irregular production, outside a duty suspension arrangement;

(d) the entry into Malta of excisable goods, including irregular entry into Malta, unless the excisable goods are placed, immediately upon entry, under a duty suspension arrangement;

"smokeless tobacco product" means a tobacco product not involving a combustion process, including heated tobacco products as defined in regulation 2 of the Manufacture, Presentation and

Sale of Tobacco and Related Products Regulations and herbal products not involving a combustion process but excluding chewing tobacco, nasal tobacco or tobacco for oral use; "third country" means any State or territory to which the Treaty is not applicable; "the Treaty" means the Treaty establishing the European Community; "vessel or ship" includes any open boat, open pontoon or other undecked vessel or ship, as well as any decked vessel or ship.