The Director of Border Revenue
Section 6: The Director of Border Revenue
45.Section 6(1) provides that the Secretary of State must designate an official in the department of the Secretary of State by whom general customs functions are exercisable as the Director of Border Revenue. Section 6(2) requires the Secretary of State to obtain the consent of the Treasury to any such designation before making it.
Section 7: Customs revenue functions of the Director
46.Subsection (1) of section 7 provides that the functions of the Commissioners that are exercisable in relation to customs revenue matters are exercisable concurrently by the Director.
47.Subsection (2) sets out what constitutes a “customs revenue matter” in this Part of the Act, namely agricultural levies, anti-dumping duty, countervailing duty, customs duties, duties of excise (with certain exceptions) and value added tax relating to the export of goods from or import of goods into the UK. Subsection (3) makes clear that the Commissioners’ functions in relation to the making, by statutory instrument, of any regulations, rules or order may not be exercised by the Director. Nor may the Director exercise any of the Commissioners’ functions in relation to the issuing of notices, directions or conditions that relate to value added tax and that apply generally to any person falling within their terms. For example, in accordance with this subsection, the Director would not be able to issue public notices in respect of VAT; Notice 700 is issued by the Commissioners as a guide to the public in relation to all the main VAT rules and procedures and Notice 700/21 gives guidance on how to fill in a VAT return.
48.Subsection (4) provides that if a function exercisable concurrently by the Commissioners and the Director may be exercised by the Commissioners in relation to both a customs revenue matter and another matter, the Director may exercise it only in relation to the customs revenue matter.
49.Subsection (5) provides that where appropriate, in relation to customs revenue matters, references to the Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, or to HMRC, in an enactment, instrument or document to which section 7 applies are to be construed as including a reference to the Director. Subsection (6) provides that references in section 7 to functions of the Commissioners are to functions conferred by an enactment to which that section applies. Subsection (7) then specifies that section 7 applies to an enactment passed or made before the end of the session in which the Act is passed, and to an instrument or document issued before the passing of the Act. Subsection (8), however, provides that section 7 only applies to certain sections of the CRCA 2005, namely section5 (1)(b) and (2)(b) (Commissioners’ initial functions), section 9 (ancillary powers), section 24(1), (2), (3)(e) and (4) to (7) (evidence), sections 25(1), (1A), (5) and (6) (conduct of civil proceedings), section 25A(2) (certificates of debt), section 26 (rewards), section 31 (obstruction) and section 33 (power of arrest) other than in its application to an offence under section 30 of that Act. Subsection (9) defines “customs revenue function” in this Part of the Act as a function exercisable by the Director by virtue of section 7 or by customs revenue officials by virtue of section 11; a function that is conferred on customs revenue officials or the Director by or by virtue of sections 22 to 23 (investigations and detention); a function under Community law that is exercisable by the Director or by customs revenue officials in relation to a customs revenue matter. In particular this means that subsection (9) defines the “customs revenue functions” exercisable by the Director for Border Revenue and customs revenue officials as including functions under Community law, so that sections 14 to 21 apply to information generated in the exercise of those functions.
Section 8: Power of Treasury to modify Director’s functions
50.Section 8 enables the functions relating to customs revenue matters that may be exercised by the Director to be updated where necessary to reflect legislative and other changes. This section provides that the Treasury may, by order, amend the matters that are included within the definition of a customs revenue matter, amend the list of functions excluded from section 7, make provision for section 7 to apply in relation to a function conferred on the Commissioners by an enactment passed or made after the end of the session in which the Act is passed and modify any enactment (including one passed or made after the passing of the Act) in consequence of any provision made under section 8(a), (b) or (c).
Section 9: Delegation of Director’s functions
51.Section 9(1) provides that the Director may make arrangements to delegate a function. Subsection (2) states that the delegation of a function does not prevent the Director from exercising the function and does not prevent the exercise of the function by a customs revenue official designated under section 11. Subsection (3) requires that, where the Director delegates a function, the Director must monitor the exercise of the function by the person to whom it is delegated and that the person concerned must comply with the directions of the Director in exercising that function.
Section 10: Compliance with directions etc.
52.Section 10 applies to the Director in the exercise of the Director’s customs revenue functions and to a person to whom such functions have been delegated under section 9. Subsections (2) and (3) require that such persons must comply, in the exercise of customs revenue functions, with any directions of a general nature given by the Treasury and must apply any concession published by the Commissioners and any interpretation of the law issued by the Commissioners. Subsection (4) imposes an obligation on a person to whom section 10 applies to comply with any other guidance issued by the Commissioners and to take account of any other material published by them. In summary, the section seeks to ensure consistent application of tax policy by HMRC and the Director.
