UK legislation is published at
http://www.hmso.gov.uk/legislation/uk.htm
As legislation does not remain static and may be amended by
subsequent legislation, in order to ensure that copies of the Acts
and Regulations which you are using are the most up-to- date, you
will need to refer to the current version of the Excise Duties
‘Blue’ Handbook (LexisNexus Tolley) which is issued to
all Excise Policy teams and to most LBS/Excise Compliance staff.
Staff dealing with oil imports will also need to refer to the
Customs Duties ‘Red’ Handbook. There is also an on-line
subscription service, which includes updates.
As the law forms the basis of our oils assurance activities,
it will often be necessary to refer to the full legislation and to
any subsequent amendments that may have been made to this.
If you have any doubt as to any legal position on oils,
please contact the Oils Team (Policy).
For details on how to contact the Oils Team (Policy) please see HCOTEG10770 in the ‘Introduction and overview of oils activity’ section of this guidance.
That a law may need interpreting might seem odd, but as has been
mentioned, we often use our existing powers and the existing
legislation in order to do new things. As a result, there may then
be some ambiguity in the laws interpretation, as it has not been
used solely for the purpose(s) for which it was originally
intended.
For example,
excepted vehicles can use rebated fuel, but when
is a truck an ‘excepted vehicle’? Should a truck be
considered a ‘road construction vehicle’ and hence
entitled to use rebated ‘red’ diesel or as simply a
‘truck’ which must use fully duty paid
‘white’ diesel instead?
There may also be advances or developments, which could not
have been anticipated at the time the law was passed. For instance,
where an agricultural tractor used to be good only for ploughing
fields and for moving things around slowly, now tractors can travel
at 60 mph; whereas road haulage trucks can no longer do this–
as many now have a restrictor fitted by law which limits their
speed to 56mph.
N.B. Whilst there is advice on ‘excepted
vehicles’ on the intranet, this is an area where there is
constant ambiguity in the interpretation and application of the
law, and one upon which the Transport Team (Oils Team) should be
consulted, and will give advice.
