Cap. 382 Art. 3Impositions of excise duty.

(1) There shall be charged and levied by the Commissioner on account of the Government an excise duty on excisable goods.

(2) The duty payable on excisable goods shall be at the rate specified in the relevant Schedules to this Act which shall be in the

English language only:

Provided that the Minister may from time to time order the publication of the said relevant Schedules in the Maltese language and in any such case, if there is any conflict between the Maltese and English text of the Schedules, the English text shall prevail.

(3) The duty payable on excisable goods according to this Act shall also be payable on goods which are produced, imported and placed on the market under any description of excisable goods, notwithstanding that such goods do not have the specifications and qualities required by law so as to have such description, and all the provisions of this Act and of any regulations made thereunder shall apply to such goods in the same manner as if they were the excisable goods as which they are described.

(4) (a) Goods in small consignments of a non-commercial nature sent from third countries by private persons to other private persons in Malta are exempt from excise duty.

(b) For the purposes of paragraph (a):

(i) "goods" means excisable goods except: - cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars and smoking tobacco; and - distilled beverages and spirits of alcoholic strength which exceeds twenty-two per-cent (22%) vol., undenatured ethyl alcohol of eighty per-cent (80%) vol. and more, distilled beverages and spirits, and aperatives based on wine or alcohol, tafia, saké or similar drinks of alcoholic strength of twenty-two per-cent (22%) vol. or less, sparkling wines, fortified wines or still wines;

(ii) "small consignments of non-commercial nature" means consignments which:

(a) are of an occasional nature;

(b) consist only of goods which are intended for personal use by the consignee or his family, and their nature and quantity do not indicate that they are being imported for any commercial purposes;

(c) contain goods with a total value which does not exceed forty-five euro (€45);

(d) are sent by a sender to the consignee, without any form of payment.

(5) (a) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-article (1) and the rates specified in the Fifth Schedule, no excise duty shall be charged or levied on non-harmonised excisable goods listed in Schedules 5A to 5H of the Fifth Schedule which are imported in consignments, where the intrinsic value thereof does not exceed one hundred and fifty euro (€150), provided that all the following conditions are satisfied:

(i) the consignment is imported by means of postal services or by an authorised courier operator;

(ii) the consignee is a natural person not acting in the course of any business, trade, profession or vocation;

(iii) the goods are intended solely for the private use of the consignee or members of his family and neither the nature and the quantity of the goods nor any document relating thereto indicates any commercial purpose;

(iv) the consignment is of an occasional nature and does not form part of a series of consignments which, taken together, indicate any commercial intent; and

(v) the goods are not subject to any prohibitions or restrictions under European Union law.

(b) For the purposes of paragraph (a):

(i) "intrinsic value" means the value of the goods determined in accordance with the customs valuation rules established in Regulation (EC) No. 1186/2009, excluding the cost of transport and insurance;

(ii) "postal services" or "authorised courier operator" includes any postal service and any private courier authorised to effect the clearance of low-value consignments in Malta;

(iii) compliance with the conditions in paragraph (a) shall be verified by the Commissioner on the basis of the customs declaration, including any simplified declaration, the particulars of the consignee and consignor and such other information or checks as the Commissioner may deem as applicable.

(c) The exemption provided under this sub-article shall be without prejudice to sub-article (4) in respect of small consignments of a non-commercial nature sent by natural persons to other natural persons from any third country.

(d) The Minister may make regulations for the purpose of ensuring the correct implementation of this sub-article, including further conditions, procedures or forms of declaration required for the application of the exemption provided in this sub-article.