Arderin Distillery wins legitimate expectation on excise relief

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Arderin Distillery Limited was found to have a legitimate expectation of excise duty relief for hand sanitiser at the High Court, reported on 12 May 2022.

The court found Revenue’s conduct during the pandemic created an implied representation that the alcohol used to make the sanitiser would be relieved from Alcohol Products Tax. Revenue must consider that legitimate expectation when determining the company’s applications; the court did not decide the applications’ merits.

The judge also noted that Revenue had not decided the applications despite their urgency.