AWRS140700 - Regulatory penalties: interaction with Schedule 41 and Finance Act 1994 penalties

There is nothing to prevent you issuing a fixed regulatory penalty for failure to comply with a requirement of the AWRS and also applying an excise wrongdoing penalty available under section 4 of Schedule 41 if appropriate.

You should not use the failure to notify penalties available under S1 of Schedule 41 if you discover a business has not applied for approval as a wholesaler. AWRS has its own penalty for trading without approval.

You may visit a wholesaler who already holds an excise approval, for example, a brewer who is registered under ALDA S47 to produce beer. Failure to comply with their obligations regarding other excise approvals should be dealt with in line with the Excise Civil Penalties Manual. If you find a wholesaler has generally poor compliance across tax regimes, you should consider whether this impacts on their ‘fit and proper’ status to trade wholesale in alcohol. See AWRS50000 for further details of the fit and proper test and revocation.