HMRA2040 - General information: What criteria must potential and existing traders and applications meet?
In respect of warehousekeepers, owners/duty representatives and
REDS approvals, section 100G of CEMA enables the Commissioners to
approve and register any revenue trader who appears to them to
satisfy such requirements for registration as they may think fit to
impose and subject to such conditions or restrictions as they may
think fit or as may be specified by or under the regulations
prescribed. The Commissioners are obliged to act
reasonably and
proportionately with respect to any condition,
restriction or requirement.
Officers are acting on behalf of the Commissioners and are
also obliged to arrive at reasonable decisions given the
information that they have available to consider in each case. In
order to arrive at reasonable decisions officers must be able to
exercise some discretion where required. Our policy on approvals
and registration cannot be so rigid that it restricts officers from
considering each application for approval on its own merits and
from arriving at a decision that would have been reasonable if our
policy had not been restrictive. This doesn’t mean that a
light touch must be applied to approvals but that officers must
consider and test all the information reasonably available to them
and arrive at a sensible conclusion that can be clearly put before
a review officer or tribunal chairman.
Current regulations and
Notice 197 Excise Goods: holding & movement publicise the
current registration requirements to existing and potential
registered traders. Notice 197 is being revised to reflect the
revised approvals and registration policy introduced under the
Alcohol Strategy. The main principles are that we will only approve
and register traders where applicants can demonstrate that
they:
- Meet all HMRC’s requirements as set out in the relevant Public Notices and legislation;
- Are a legitimate business with a genuine business need for approval;
- Can meet any throughput criteria so that their approval will not require unreasonable resources to ensure that all duties are paid and administrative requirements met;
- Will run their excise activities in a transparent way that will enable satisfactory audit and assurance of the onward supply chain by the relevant authorities.
HMRC will not approve traders where a potential and demonstrable risk is identified in relation to a specific application that suggests it is against the public interest for the authorisation to be granted.
This guidance provides further detail that officers need to consider when deciding whether to recommend that an applicant should be granted an approval, authorisation and/or registration.
