New Zealand

Customs Act 1996
Excise Regulation 9
"Any person who produces beer, wine or spirits for his or her own consumption is exempt from excise tax"

Tom : The story of how distilling became legal in New Zealand is rather interesting. It all dates back to the last Labour Government in the mid 80's when they decided in their wisdom that Government Departments would be sold off to private enterprise, turned into State owned enterprises (companies) or in the case of Departments like Customs which couldn't realy do either, be run like businesses and make a profit where ever possible. During the redrafting of our liquor laws 1989/90 the Customs Department put it to the Goverment that if they were supposed to be business like why did they have to check on all licenced stills in the Country where they only collected revenue from the ones that made alcohol. The solution to the problem ? Make the ownership of a still no longer ilegal which they did by simply removing that section from the act. Very shortly after this became the case two bright sparks by the name of Peter Wheeler and Malcolm Wheeler (yes the same ones that wrote the book and own Spirits Unlimited) decided that if the ownership of a still was no longer ilegal then they would start selling them to the general public. This created a beautiful catch 22 for Customs, under the Customs act if you distilled alcohol you had to have a licence and pay excise tax, but the thought of policing home stills for small amounts of alcohol filled them with horror so they made an internal policy that although there was nothing to stop them licencing home stills that they wouldn't do it. This left them in another no win situation, the maximum fine under the act was $500 and consfiscation of the offending alcohol, the cost of a prosecution several thousand dollars so they didn't deem that to be an efficient use the their money either so they largely turned a blind eye to it all. After many submissions to Government (myself included) when the liquor laws where changed again in October 1996 sanity prevailed and the customs act was changed and the word spirits added into the part about brewing beer, wine or the growing of tobacco for your own use was free of excise tax. This is a pretty unique set of circumstances which are unlikely to be replicated overseas I would have thought although I believe that there is a lot of pressure for Australia to follow and we are watching with great interest to see if it happens.

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.

Australians

Part II of the Act (sec. 10,11,11a) effectively state that if you have a still for the usage of other than the distillation of alcohol that is under the size of 5 litres, you do not have to notify of it's existence as per s.11.

As per Part III s.12 of the Act:

12. A person shall not distil spirits unless he is licensed under this Act so to do or otherwise than in accordance with the licence granted to him under this Act. Penalty: $5,000.

So, ANY still (regardless of size) that is used to produce spirits is an illicit still, and is subject to the seizure and penal laws in ss.73,73(a),74. (which is basically seizure of all equipment possibly used in production and fines of $5000 per count).

I have also read the full legislation and come to the conclusion that a <5 Litre still is not an illicit still, because :

• <5 litre stills are exempt from the notification rules,and
  
• <5 litre stills are exempt from the licensing rules.
  These are the laws that would make it an illicit still if they not followed. But we don't need to follow them because the <5 litre still is exempt. Therefore it cannot be illicit.

I have read the Australian DISTILLATION ACT 1901, and it clearly states the following,

DISTILLATION ACT 1901 SECT 73A, states that is is not unlawful to possess a still of a capacity not exceeding 5 litres

DISTILLATION ACT 1901 SECT 11A, states that the provisions of sections 10 and 11 do not apply to or in relation to a still of a capacity not exceeding 5 litres.

DISTILLATION ACT 1901 SECT 10 states that permission is required for the making, selling or importing stills - I would assume that this permission would be in the form of a license - complying with the provisions of Section 11A negates Section 10. Permission as defined in the act actually - means the written permission of the Collector ( of Customs & Excise )

DISTILLATION ACT 1901 SECT 11 - A still that is used in contravention of this section shall be deemed to be an illicit still. Complying with the provisions of Section 11A negates Section 11, and a result a still of 5 litres or less is not an illicit still, and any spirits produced by it are by inference not illicit spirits.

If you did possess an illicit still then Section 74 would be invoked

DISTILLATION ACT 1901 SECT 74 Offences as to illicit stills

No person shall:
(1)Use an illicit still;
(2)Make any illicit spirits;
(3)Supply the means or materials for establishing, maintaining, or working any illicit still;
(4)Receive, carry, convey, or conceal, or have on the person's premises, or in the custody, or under the control, of the person, any illicit spirits;
(5)Be found without lawful excuse in any place where distillation is being illegally carried on;
(6)Sell or dispose of any illicit spirits;
(7)Purchase any illicit spirits knowing them to be illicit spirits;
(8)Make, sell, or have in his or her possession or custody or control any wash or wort intended for distillation by an illicit still.

Of course as a still of a capacity not exceeding 5 litres, is not illicit according to the provisions of the act, then section 74 does not apply.

Unfortunately the definition of capacity is farly vague in the act - but I would assume the capacity to make no more than 5 litres of alcohol.

The documentation for still described at www.amazingstill.com says "There should be 5 Litres capacity for the alcohol at the bottom, which I'd reckon would make it legal in Australia.

Americans

Spirits
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

State (varies from $75-$3,150 per year) & a Federal license ($500 per year) plus State & Fed. production taxes. Registration of all supplies, suppliers, formulas (Subject to classification and approval) and label reg. (Subject to classification and approval). More paperwork than money. If you already have a brewery or winery (bonded premisis) an "alternation of premisis" may be obtained to operate a distillery (with the additional license) on site. Well worth the trouble, because there is still room at the top.

Canada

If trying to register a fuel alcohol still in Canada, contact the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca - info available under Excise Tax.

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 )

Fiji

Holland

I took the liberty to make a compilation of relevant laws & penalties concerning distillation:

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
• 1. Het is niet toegestaan:
  a. een accijnsgoed te vervaardigen buiten een accijnsgoederenplaats die voor dat soort accijnsgoed als zodanig is aangewezen;
  b. een accijnsgoed voorhanden te hebben dat niet overeenkomstig de bepalingen van deze wet in de heffing is betrokken.
• 2. Het verbod als bedoeld in het eerste lid, onderdeel a, is niet van toepassing indien het vervaardigen geschiedt overeenkomstig de wettelijke bepalingen, bedoeld in artikel 2, tweede lid, onderdeel a, van de Douanewet.
• 3. Onder bij algemene maatregel van bestuur te stellen voorwaarden en beperkingen wordt ontheffing verleend van de in het eerste lid bedoelde verboden voor:
  a. het vervaardigen van accijnsgoederen uit andere accijnsgoederen, waarbij het accijnsbedrag dat de eerstbedoelde accijnsgoederen vertegenwoordigen niet hoger is dan het accijnsbedrag dat de accijnsgoederen vertegenwoordigen waaruit zij zijn vervaardigd;
  b. het vervaardigen van accijnsgoederen waarvoor een vrijstelling van accijns geldt op de voet van artikel 65;
  c. het thuis vervaardigen van bier en wijn door particulieren, voor zover die goederen worden aangewend voor eigen gebruik;
  d. het vervaardigen en het voorhanden hebben van andere minerale oliën dan bedoeld in het vierde lid, mits deze minerale oliën niet op grond van artikel 28 worden gelijkgesteld met minerale oliën waarvoor in artikel 27 een tarief is vastgesteld


HOOFDSTUK VII. VERBODSBEPALINGEN EN STRAFBEPALINGEN

Afdeling 1. Verbodsbepalingen

Artikel 90
• 1. Het is niet toegestaan een distilleertoestel te vervaardigen of voorhanden te hebben zonder een daartoe strekkende vergunning van de inspecteur.
• 2. Onder een distilleertoestel wordt verstaan elk toestel - ook indien dit niet gereed is voor dadelijk gebruik - dat geschikt is voor het afscheiden van ethanol uit ethanolhoudende stoffen.
• 3. De vergunning wordt op verzoek verleend.
• 4. Het verlenen, het aanpassen en het intrekken van een vergunning alsmede het afwijzen van een verzoek daartoe geschieden bij voor bezwaar vatbare beschikking.
• 5. Binnen acht weken na ontvangst van het verzoek geeft de inspecteur een voor bezwaar vatbare beschikking op dat verzoek, dan wel zendt hij de in het zesde lid bedoelde kennisgeving.
• 6. Indien de inspecteur de voor bezwaar vatbare beschikking niet binnen de in het vijfde lid genoemde termijn kan geven, stelt hij belanghebbende daarvan onder opgaaf van redenen in kennis en noemt hij de termijn waarop de voor bezwaar vatbare beschikking wel zal worden gegeven.
• 7. Bij ministeriële regeling kunnen:
  a. regels worden gesteld met betrekking tot de in de vergunning op te nemen voorwaarden;
  b. distilleertoestellen worden aangewezen waarvoor geen vergunning is vereist.
• 8. Artikel 83 is van overeenkomstige toepassing op plaatsen waar distilleertoestellen worden vervaardigd of voorhanden zijn.
Afdeling 2. Strafbepalingen

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

Of course it is prohibited to have an unregistered installation to make any alcoholic drink at all as told in the dutch text. You may not make wine, beer of any other drink at all without a permid. The regulation is made to collect taxes on the drinks.

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)

I took the trouble to look this up a while ago in 'Halsbury's Laws of England' which is the legal encyclopaedia used by the courts and lawyers in general. It is very authoritative. Basically, the situation is this. You can't distill alcohol without a rectifier's licence (Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 s18(1)).

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.

Venezuela

In this parts we have a rather "folkloric" approach to the illegality of both still making and its use. In small towns like mine (where most of the moonshining occurs) it mainly depends on if you get to befriend your local chief of the "Guardia Nacional" (exactly translates to National Guard but it's a wholly different institution than the US namesake. This is a branch of our military that polices civilians and is like a heavily armed combination of IRS and ATF). If the guy likes you, you can strike a deal with him and tacitly accept that he would be "milking" you whenever he gets a tip from an envious neighbor (there must be a way to hide that smell!), or, if you produce with a certain regularity, brace yourself to be his cash-box. Sometimes, and depending also on his drinking/eating habits, you can get away with him only taking some "samples", others, some small living-stock or farm produce, but if you produce to sell he would only take cash. "Mordida" as mexicans call this deeply ingrained form of petty corruption is widespread here but not universal. Worse luck if your local "Guardia" chief gets relocated and you get a new teetotaler one.

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.