73A.— (1) The Minister may, after consultation with such other Minister of the Government, if any, as the Minister considers appropriate, make regulations providing that there shall be chargeable, leviable and payable a levy (which shall be known as, and in this section is referred to as, a "recovery levy") in respect of—

(a) the carrying on of a specified class or classes of an activity referred to in the Fourth Schedule,

(b) the recovery by means of an activity referred to in the Fourth Schedule, or a specified class or classes of such activity, of a specified class or classes of waste,

(c) subject to subsection (2), the carrying on of an activity referred to in paragraph (a) and an activity referred to in paragraph (b), or

(d) the export of waste for recovery in so far as it relates to an activity referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (c).

(2) Regulations under subsection (1)(c) shall not result in the recovery levy being payable twice in respect of a particular recovery of a particular quantity of waste.

(3) The amount of the recovery levy—

(a) shall be specified in the regulations under subsection (1),

(b) shall not exceed an amount of €120 per tonne, and

(c) may be specified in respect of the amount of waste sent for recovery or the amount of waste recovered.

(4) The Minister may—

(a) for the purposes of promoting either or both of the following:

(i) the prevention of the generation of waste;

(ii) the reduction of the quantity of waste recovered or sent for recovery by means of an activity referred to in subsection (1),

and

(b) subject to subsection (3)(b) and (5),

amend the amount of the recovery levy standing specified in regulations under subsection (1) once and once only in each financial year beginning with the financial year in which section 29 of the Act of 2022 comes into operation.

(5) The Minister shall, when amending the amount of recovery levy standing specified in regulations under subsection (1), substitute an amount that does not exceed the amount so standing specified by €50.

(6) Subject to subsection (3), regulations under subsection (1) may specify, in respect of the amount of the recovery levy payable under them, different amounts by reference to different activities referred to in any of paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of subsection (1) in respect of which the recovery levy is so payable.

(7) The recovery levy shall be payable by—

(a) the person who carries on the waste recovery activity concerned, or

(b) where the waste is to be shipped for recovery, by the waste holder or such class of waste holder as may be prescribed.

(8) Where any amount of recovery levy becomes payable in accordance with regulations made under this section and is not paid, simple interest on the amount shall be paid by the person liable to pay the recovery levy and such interest shall be calculated from the date on which the recovery levy became payable and at a rate of 0.0322 per cent for each day or part of a day during which the amount remains unpaid.

(9) Interest due in accordance with subsection (8) shall be payable to the Circular Economy Fund in the manner specified in the regulations under subsection (1) and the provisions of those regulations relating to the levy shall apply to the interest as if it were recovery levy.

(10) Interest paid in accordance with subsection (8) shall be treated as recovery levy for the purposes of—

(a) subsection (15), in relation to provision under that subsection for recovery levy by virtue of paragraph (n) of section 12 (3) of the Act of 2022, and

(b) section 8 (7) of the Act of 2022.

(11) Regulations under subsection (1) shall—

(a) provide that the recovery levy (not being levy chargeable by virtue of those regulations on the local authority) shall be payable to the local authority in whose functional area the waste recovery activity concerned is carried on, or, where the waste recovery activity is to take place outside of the State, the levy shall be payable to Dublin City Council, and

(b) confer on the local authority referred to in paragraph (a) powers with respect to the collection and recovery of the levy (and, for this purpose, the regulations may adapt, with or without modifications, the provisions of any enactment relating to the estimation, collection and recovery of, or the inspection of records or the furnishing of information in relation to, any tax charged or imposed by that enactment).

(12) Regulations under subsection (1) may, for the purpose referred to in subsection (13), restrict the extent to which a local authority may exercise a power to make a charge for the provision by it of any service in circumstances where, in the opinion of the Minister, such exercise is so as to enable the local authority to recoup amounts paid by it by way of recovery levy.

(13) The purpose referred to in subsection (12) is that of ensuring that the exercise of the power referred to in that subsection does not result in one or more categories of person paying a disproportionate amount of the total amount of charges a local authority could reasonably be expected to make in respect of the provision of services in the circumstances concerned.

(14) For so long as regulations under subsection (1) restrict the exercise of the power referred to in subsection (12), the enactment that confers that power shall be construed as if there were contained in it a provision the effect of which is to restrict the exercise of the power in the manner provided by the said regulations.

(15) Regulations under subsection (1) may provide, in relation to recovery levy, for all the matters which regulations under section 11 (1) of the Act of 2022 may, by virtue of paragraphs (a), (c), (d) and (i) to (n) of section 12 (3) of that Act, provide in relation to levy under section 11 and those paragraphs shall, accordingly, apply for the purposes of this section with any necessary modifications (including such modifications as will enable like provision with respect to the payment into the Circular Economy Fund of amounts received by a local authority on account of recovery levy to be made with respect to recovery levy chargeable on the local authority itself).

(16) A person who fails—

(a) to pay recovery levy which is due and payable by virtue of regulations under subsection (1), or

(b) to comply with a provision of regulations under subsection (1),

shall be guilty of an offence.]