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10 1947

AUCTIONEERS AND HOUSE AGENTS ACT, 1947

PART V.

Miscellaneous Provisions as to Licences and Auction Permits.

Cancellation, suspension and disqualification in respect of licences and auction permits.

18. —(1) Whenever a person who is a licensed auctioneer or house agent is convicted of an offence involving fraud, dishonesty or breach of trust, the Court may, without prejudice to the infliction of any other punishment authorised by law, do such one or more of the following things as the Court shall think proper, that is to say:—

(a) cancel the licence held by that person and, if he is a licensed auctioneer, every auction permit granted to him or to any person to conduct auctions on his behalf,

(b) suspend, for a specified time, the said licence and every such auction permit as aforesaid,

(c) declare that person to be disqualified from holding a licence during a specified period.

(2) Where an appeal is brought against a conviction or sentence for an offence to which subsection (1) of this section applies, the Court hearing the appeal shall have the jurisdiction conferred by that subsection on the Court by which the offender was tried and shall have jurisdiction to confirm, annul or vary any cancellation, suspension or disqualification imposed under that subsection.

(3) Whenever the Court cancels or suspends a licence or an auction permit or declares a person to be disqualified from holding a licence or confirms, annuls or varies any cancellation, suspension or disqualification, the registrar or clerk of the Court shall inform the Revenue Commissioners.

Production of auctioneers' licences and auction permits to officers of customs and excise.

19. —(1) Every person conducting an auction (other than an auction to which subsection (2) of section 6 of this Act relates) shall, if so requested by an officer of customs and excise, produce and show to the officer, there and then, an auctioneer's licence or auction permit under which he was authorised to conduct the auction, or within the next seven days, produce and show such a licence or permit to any officer of customs and excise at a customs and excise office to be named by such person at the time when the said request is made.

(2) Every person who contravenes subsection (1) of this section shall, unless he satisfies the Court that he was authorised to conduct the auction and that the contravention was due to circumstances beyond his control, be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction to an excise penalty of fifty pounds.

Display of placard by person holding auction.

20. —(1) Every person holding an auction (other than an auction to which subsection (2) of section 6 of this Act relates) shall, throughout the auction, display in a conspicuous position at the place where the auction is being held a placard bearing—

(a) if he is a licensed auctioneer, the name under which he is licensed to carry on business and the address of his principal place of business in the State,

(b) if he is the holder of an auction permit to conduct auctions on behalf of another person who is a licensed auctioneer, the name under which the licensed auctioneer is licensed to carry on business and the address of the auctioneer's principal place of business in the State.

(2) Every person who contravenes subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to an excise penalty of ten pounds.

(3) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to the holding by or on behalf of a licensed auctioneer of an auction of which a notice, bearing the name under which he is licensed to carry on business and the address of his principal place of business in the State, has been published in a newspaper circulating in the area where the auction is held or displayed in a conspicuous position in the area.

Restriction on auctioneers dealing in excisable commodities.

21. —(1) An auctioneer's licence or auction permit shall not authorise the holder thereof to deal in or sell, either on his own behalf or on behalf of any other person, a commodity for the dealing in or selling of which an excise licence is required except at a place in respect of which the owner of the commodity has taken out and has in force an excise licence for the sale of the commodity.

(2) The Revenue Commissioners may authorise a licensed auctioneer to sell by auction on behalf of an individual a commodity of a kind to which subsection (1) of this section relates if they are satisfied that the commodity is the property of that individual and is not being sold in connection with that individual's trade.

Surrender of licences and auction permits on cancellation.

22. —(1) Where a licence or auction permit is cancelled, or where an auction permit expires owing to the cancellation of an auctioneer's licence, the holder thereof shall, within seven days after he has been required by the Revenue Commissioners so to do, surrender the licence or auction permit to the Revenue Commissioners.

(2) Every person who, in contravention of subsection (1) of this section, fails to surrender a licence or auction permit shall, unless he satisfies the Court that the contravention was due to circumstances beyond his control, be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to an excise penalty of twenty pounds.

Publication of notice of cancellation of licences or auction permits.

23. —The Revenue Commissioners shall, as soon as may be after the cancellation of a licence or an auction permit, publish in Iris Oifigiúil notice of the cancellation.

Temporary licences.

24. —(1) Whenever an application for a certificate of qualification in respect of a particular business is refused and an appeal to the Circuit Court is lodged, the Revenue Commissioners may, without payment of excise duty, issue to the applicant a temporary licence to carry on that business under the name specified in the licence.

(2) A temporary licence may be issued only in the following circumstances:—

(a) in the case of an application made before the operative date, that, at the date of the application, the applicant is, and has been during the preceding twelve months, the holder of—

(i) if the business concerned is that of auctioneer, a licence under the Auctioneers Act, 1845, or

(ii) if it is that of house agent, a licence granted under section 11 of the Revenue (No. 1) Act, 1861;

(b) in any other case, that the applicant is, at the time of making the application the holder of—

(i) if the business concerned is that of auctioneer, an auctioneer's licence,

(ii) if it is that of house agent, a house agent's licence;

(c) that the applicant produces to the Revenue Commissioners a certificate of the Accountant of the Courts of Justice granted not more than twenty-eight days previously that the applicant maintains in the High Court a deposit and, where the deposit is a guarantee bond, that it covers the whole period for which the licence is to be granted.

(3) A temporary licence shall—

(a) specify the name under which the licensee is authorised to carry on business,

(b) commence on the date specified in that behalf therein,

(c) continue in force for such period, not extending beyond the expiration of seven days after the decision of the appeal, as the Revenue Commissioners may think fit, and

(d) be subject to such conditions as they may think fit to impose.

(4) A temporary licence to carry on the business of auctioneer shall authorise one named individual (being either the licensee or some individual nominated by him) to conduct auctions on behalf of the licensee.

(5) The Revenue Commissioners shall, at the request of a licensee, cancel his temporary licence.

(6) A temporary licence, while it remains in force, shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be—

(a) if it is a licence to carry on the business of auctioneer, a licence under section 8 of this Act, and

(b) if it is a licence to carry on the business of house agent, a licence under section 10 of this Act.