TPD9100 - Storage: Sale of tobacco product in registered premises

Section 4.6, of Notice 476 forbids the sale of tobacco products to persons other than the manufacturer, who occupies the registered premises, before removal from those premises. That section of Notice 476 has the force of law.

This restriction does not change the previous policy but gives legal force to the requirement that tobacco product is removed from registered premises before it is sold on. The wording of Notice 476, section 4.6, allows ownership of the tobacco product to pass between ‘divisions’ of the manufacturer before it is removed from the registered premises.

Section 4.6 of Notice 476 works in conjunction with regulations 9(4) & (5), and 24(2),of the “Tobacco Products Regulations 2001”. The purpose is to limit the duty-suspended storage of UK manufactured tobacco products, intended for home-use, to registered premises occupied by the UK manufacturer who produced them. The group of persons allowed to store UK tobacco product in duty suspense, together with the premises where the product may be stored, is known as the “duty free ring”. Extending the duty free ring would have implications for the revenue flow, would increase the risk to the revenue and would, consequently, increase the Customs resources involved in the protection of the revenue.