HCOTEG21500 - Law - background: the interpretation of UK law

Introduction

UK legislation is published at

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 Purple Book (Customs & Excise Duties) 3A and 3B which are issued to all Excise Policy teams and to most LB/Excise Compliance staff. Staff dealing with oil imports will need to refer to the Purple Book 3A, which covers import regulations, or to the Tariff. 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 Policy Team.

Contacting the Fuel Duties Policy Team

For details on how to contact the Policy Team please see HCOTEG10770 in the ‘Introduction and overview of oils activity’ section of this guidance.

How does the law get interpreted and what happens if there is a disagreement?

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 interpretation of the law, as it has not been used solely for the purpose(s) for which it was originally intended.

There may also be advances or developments, which could not have been anticipated at the time the law was passed.

N.B. Whilst there is advice on ‘excepted machines’ on the intranet, this is an area where new legislation (Schedule 1a of HODA 1979) became effective on 1 April 2022, replacing Schedule 1 of HODA. If there is doubt about the interpretation and application of the law the Policy Team should be consulted and will give advice.