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Legality
This is the biggie. It probably ain't legal for you to distill unless you are fortunate enough to be in New Zealand (as I am). It would pay to check your local legislation before you go and start. That aside, information is not illegal. Just don't get caught using your knowledge. New ZealandWheeler & Willmott report in "Spirits Unlimited"
Excise Regulation 9 "Any person who produces beer, wine or spirits for his or her own consumption is exempt from excise tax" It says: There is an exemption from the manufacturing area licensing requirement for any area you use within your private house to manufacture the following: * tobacco grown on your own land, manufactured exclusively for your own personal use * beer, wine and spirits manufactured exclusively for personal use. What it doesn't define is "personal use". Some take this to mean that you simply cannot sell the alcohol, whilst others say that it extends to not even being able to give it away. How did it become legal in NZ ? Ray and Des explain ...
Des : The situation to some extent got too big for the government to control and as the product being produced could not be faulted on health grounds (yes it was tested by "the powers that be") there was really no other choice but to legalise it. In about September 1995 it was estimated that there were close to 2000 stills, capable of producing alcohol, being used as 'ornaments' in the Auckland city alone. A number of us interested parties made submissions to our local members of parliament and the governing bodies in support of the law change. There have really been no problems and so long as it stays that way other governments may eventually see the light. However it must be remembered that alcohol production is a good, easy, and inexpensive source of tax revenue to any government. For this reason I urge all NZers to 'play the game' and abide by the rules. We have something unique to be cherished. AustraliansAustralians - you can posess a still of <5L capacity, but not produce spirits from it.The Distillation Act of 1901 was repealed (by Act 74 2006) effective July 2006 and the relevant legislation has been moved to the Excise Act 1901. The Excise Act 1901; http://www.comlaw.gov.au/ComLaw/Legislation/ActCompilation1.nsf/0/F20483DE5083F9BDCA2571A80006C3B1?OpenDocument Simon found:
Mr FITZGIBBON- ... The Spirits Act, which provides for controls over the manufacture of spirits, including brandy, whisky and rum, and methylated spirits, is repealed on the basis that most of the provisions it contains are adequately covered in the Excise Act or are no longer relevant to the effective management of the alcohol taxation regime. The Distillation Act, which provides controls on the distillation of spirits, including stills, distilleries, licences and fortification of Australian wine, is also repealed. I understand Senator Murray has sought to refer some matters relating to alcohol to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee. I make the point, having learned he has done so, that the government made a commitment that there would not be any changes to alcohol taxes in this country on a piecemeal basis, that any change or review of alcohol taxes in this country would be done in a holistic way by looking at every sector in the industry-that is, wine, beer and spirits. Act 74 2006 This *Act* works in conjunction with the / Excise Tariff Amendment (Fuel Tax Reform and Other Measures) *Act* 2006/ to: * clarify the arrangements for using imported inputs to excise manufacture; * streamline and clarify the current arrangements for concessional spirits (alcohol that is used for a purpose other than consumption as an excisable beverage); * strengthen controls over tobacco leaf, which has a high potential excise liability, and acts against a beer excise revenue avoidance practice; * make improvements to excise licensing provisions to make renewal periods consistent and to allow better capacity for licensing to be used as a compliance tool to protect the excise revenue; * amend certain provisions of the /Excise *Act* *1901*/ to remove a number of prescriptive and interventionist requirements that are *no* longer in step with modern administrative or business practice. Along with the streamlined schedule, this will assist excise manufacturers in understanding and complying with the legislation; * repeal a number of Acts (/Coal Excise *Act* 1949/, /Spirits *Act* 1906/ and /*Distillation* *Act * *1901*/) that impose obligations on affected businesses, but which are *no* longer considered necessary. Those provisions of the /Spirits *Act* 1906/ and /*Distillation* *Act **1901*/ that continue to be required are transferred to the /Excise *Act* *1901*/; and * repeal a number of fuel related Acts that are *no* longer required because of the fuel tax reforms see: Excise Laws Amendment (Fuel Tax Reform and Other Measures) Act 2006 Search for No. 74, 2006 on http://www.comlaw.gov.au that was an amendment act, so now you need to look at what they have done to the actual acts. They have repealed the Distillation Act and put the relevant parts inside the Excise Act 1901. Housekeeping if you will. Here are the relevant sections: Part III-Manufacturers, producers and dealers Division 1-Manufacturers 25 Only licensed manufacturers to manufacture excisable goods (1) A person who does not hold a manufacturer licence must not intentionally manufacture excisable goods knowing, or being reckless as to whether, the goods are excisable goods. Penalty: 2 years imprisonment or the greater of: (a) 500 penalty units; and (b) 5 times the amount of duty that would be payable if the goods had been entered for home consumption on the penalty day. Note: See section 4AA of the Crimes Act 1914 for the current value of a penalty unit. (2) A person who does not hold a manufacturer licence must not manufacture excisable goods. Penalty: 100 penalty units. (3) Strict liability applies to subsection (2). AND: 77FK Offence in relation to stills (1) A person commits an offence if: (a) the person does any of the following things: (i) makes or commences to make any still; (ii) removes, sets up or erects any still; (iii) sells or otherwise disposes of, or purchases or otherwise acquires any still, either by itself or with other property, or as part of any premises; (iv) imports any still; (v) has possession, custody or control of any still; and (b) the still is of a capacity exceeding 5 litres; and (c) the person is not a licensed manufacturer; and (d) the person has not been given permission by the CEO to do the thing. Penalty: 50 penalty units. (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to an act done by an officer in the course of performing a function or exercising a power under this Act or the Excise Tariff Act 1921. Note: A defendant bears an evidential burden in relation to the matter in subsection (2) (see subsection 13.3(3) of the Criminal Code). (3) The CEO may, in writing, give a person permission to do a thing mentioned in paragraph (1)(a). (4) A permission under subsection (3) is not a legislative instrument. *** So, nothing major has changed, stills <= 5L are still legal. Manufacturing alcohol without a licence still isn't. Under 77FE and 7FF though you can apply for permission to distill for industrial, manufacturing, scientific, medical, veterinary or educational purpose, either a once off or a specific amount per month or year.
AmericansTough out of luck - see the http://www.ttb.gov/ Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, their FAQ page, and some of the latest ammended laws. You will find ....
You cannot produce spirits for beverage purposes without paying taxes and without prior approval of paperwork to operate a distilled spirits plant. [See 26 U.S.C. 5601 & 5602 for some of the criminal penalties.] There are numerous requirements that must be met that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal or beverage use. Some of these requirements are paying special tax, filing an extensive application, filing a bond, providing adequate equipment to measure spirits, providing suitable tanks and pipelines, providing a separate building (other than a dwelling) and maintaining detailed records, and filing reports. All of these requirements are listed in 27 CFR Part 19. Ray emailed the BATF for the reference statutes concerning home distillation. Here is their response: Ray, you have not been able to locate anything on home production because there is no provision for it. Moonshining is still illegal!! Unlike wine or beer, the laws and regulations governing distilled spirits contain no provision that would allow someone to produce spirits in their home for personal use. Under 26 U.S.C. Section 5171 operations as a distiller, warehouseman or processor may be conducted only on the bonded premises of a qualified distilled spirits plant. To qualify such a plant, a registration, application for permit and bond must be filed in addition to other supporting organizational documents. 26 U.S.C. 5178 places restrictions on where a plant can be located. Hope this answers your question. Carol Coy Industry Specialist National Revenue Center-Cincinnati, OH Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms e-mail: cjcoy@cinc.atf.treas.gov 1. Americans can own a still, but it must be no larger than 1 gallon, and may only be used for water purification or the extraction of essential oils from plants. 2.Dealers/manufacturers of stills in the United States must surrender any address or other info on any customer who buys a still to the BATF, when they request it.(no warrant is required.) What this means is that anyone who buys a still in America can at any time expect a knock at the door and a man with a badge demanding to see what is being done with the still they bought. How this effects the companies seen advertising 5 gallon stills for use as a water purifier, was not listed, nor is there any info on solar stills. It is probably VERY illegal to import a still too. If you're trying the angle of making alcohol as a fuel (yes, this is legal!), see http://webconx.green-trust.org Steve Spence's site for all the details. Whats the cost of doing it right ? Don advises ...
For fed. rules and regs. Go to http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov. In the browse box, select "title 27" Where it says "browse parts" click on the numbers "1-199" Scroll down to "part 19" (Distilled spirits plant)and click on the numbers "19.1 to 19.1010" You are only interested in "subpart Y" (Distilled spirits for fuel) If you just want to produce fuel for personal use, and to be used on your own property, you aren't subject to bonds, taxes, and denaturing your product unless it is removed from the premises. If this is what you want, then you will want to choose the "small plant" ( less than 10,000 proof-gallons per year)A proof-gallon is a US gallon times proof divided by 100. For an on line permit application – click on the following link… http://www.ttb.gov/forms/pdfs/f510074.pdf Or you can call them toll free and request a permit packet. There is no charge for the permit Tax and Trade Bureau National Revenue Center 550 Main Street Suite 8002 Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 Toll Free 1-877-TTB-FAQS (1-877-882-3277) (513)-684-3334 To learn more about alcohol fuel production check out this site. http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com CanadaHVD advises ..
You might try calling Chris Lewis ( fuel sector ) at 613-957-8642 You will need to obtain a licence for constructing or using any type of distillation equipment ( except that used for distilling water, but even that has to meet certain specs to avoid running afoul of the tax act ) I would suggest reading the Excise Tax Act ( also online ) boring as it may be, it contains a lot of info, which might help to know about before calling the folks at CCRA. In any event, the regs here in Canada make it very troublesome to even attempt to do experimenting in any reasonable way. ( for example the vessel your fuel condenses into has to be locked and opened only when Excise Tax officer is there ....kind of hard if you want to check out quality of your batch... other roadblocks also will apply ) HollandSee Erwins note to the newsgroup (I have no idea what it is saying .. hope it aint naughty ..)
Wet van 31 oktober 1991, houdende vereenvoudiging en uniformering van de accijnswetgeving (Wet op de accijns [Versie geldig vanaf: 01-01-1999]) Afdeling 2. Algemene verbodsbepalingen Artikel 5 HOOFDSTUK VII. VERBODSBEPALINGEN EN STRAFBEPALINGEN Afdeling 1. Verbodsbepalingen Artikel 90 Artikel 97 Degene die opzettelijk een in artikel 5 opgenomen verbod overtreedt, wordt gestraft met gevangenisstraf van ten hoogste vier jaren of geldboete van de vierde categorie of, indien dit bedrag hoger is, ten hoogste eenmaal het bedrag van de te weinig geheven accijns. Artikel 98 Degene die opzettelijk een accijnsgoed waarvoor vrijstelling of teruggaaf van accijns is verleend een bestemming geeft waarvoor geen vrijstelling of teruggaaf van accijns zou zijn verleend, wordt gestraft met gevangenisstraf van ten hoogste vier jaren of geldboete van de vierde categorie of, indien dit bedrag hoger is, ten hoogste eenmaal het bedrag van de te weinig geheven accijns. Artikel 99 1. Degene die het in artikel 90, eerste lid, opgenomen verbod overtreedt, wordt gestraft met geldboete van de derde categorie. 2. Degene die het in artikel 90, eerste lid, opgenomen verbod overtreedt terwijl hij weet of redelijkerwijs kan weten dat het distilleertoestel bestemd is of zal worden bestemd om te worden gebruikt tot ontduiking van de accijns, wordt gestraft met gevangenisstraf van ten hoogste vier jaren of geldboete van de vierde categorie. Artikel 100 1. Degene die een in de artikelen 90a, 91, eerste en tweede lid, of 92 opgenomen verbod overtreedt, wordt gestraft met geldboete van de derde categorie. 2. Degene die een van de in het eerste lid bedoelde verboden opzettelijk overtreedt, wordt gestraft met gevangenisstraf van ten hoogste twee jaren of geldboete van de vierde categorie. This is not the complete text of this law, just a compilation. I am not a legal expert, nor connected with any law firm or customs. I just want to share this knowledge with you. Greetings Erwin
In the case that one make his own drinks for use at home and not for sale there is no big fiscal interest at stake and the inspection (represented by Mr H. Blijker 21 Apr 1987) has therefore no interest to stop the activity. (it costs more than it brings) So if you stay small and don't show it to much in publik (to provoke) you don't have to fear for problems. It is called: "gedogen" United Kingdom (UK)Giles writes, concerning what the risks are ...
If you do and are caught you will be liable to pay the duty on the alcohol in the spirits you make (currently £19.56 per litre) and to pay a fine of whichever is the greater of £250 and 5% of the duty payable. (Finance Act 1994 s9(2)). Forget getting a license. There are rules about how large (or rather how small) the still can be which would render any home device unlawful and in any case you'd have to pay the duty which sort of defeats the object. As far as I can ascertain, you are not committing a criminal offence by distilling alcohol. All the above are civil matters. I assume that Customs and Excise would seize all your product and your equipment too. In short, you might say that the consequences of a raid on a genuine hobby distiller making liquor for him or herself would be embarrassing but not necessarily disastrous. As for the likelihood of getting caught; well I have never heard of a case in my lifetime (I'm 47). My own guess is that the Customs an Excise are far too busy chasing drugs and liquor smugglers and dealing with VAT fraud to bother with a small time....... Hang on, there's someone at the door. VenezuelaHéctor wrote to the dbd ...
Legally you must purchase your still from a registered manufacturer and pay the equivalent of US $7700 upon opting for a license and pay half that annually for renewal. Excise is 9.5 % of your retail price (plus 14.5 % VAT). You can't distill legally unless you're able to produce at least 50,000 liters annually. IsraelBenjamin writes:
The bottom line is: There is no actual checkup or enforcement on people who want to set up their own private still. As a chemical engineer who is in charge of the poisons license at my company, the law states that a poisons license for someone who has Ethanol on their premises, up to 200Liters of over 80%/vol does not need a license. If you produce a spirit that is over 80%/vol, then you need to declare this to the Ministry of the Environment. BulgariaDimo writes:
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