13.— Section 73 of the Act of 1996 is amended—

(a) in subsection (1), by substituting “such other Minister of the Government, if any, as the Minister considers appropriate” for “any Minister of the Government concerned”,

(b) in subsection (1)(a), by substituting “paragraph D1 or D5 of the Third Schedule” for “paragraph 1 or 5 of the Third Schedule”,

(c) in subsection (1)(b) by substituting “paragraph D1 or D5 of the Third Schedule” for “paragraph 1 or 5 of the Third Schedule”,

(d) by substituting the following subsections for subsection (3):

“(3) The amount of the levy shall be specified in the regulations under subsection (1) but shall not exceed an amount of €120 for each tonne of waste disposed of.

(3A) The Minister may, subject to subsections (3) and (3B), amend the amount of the levy standing specified in regulations under subsection (1) for the purposes of promoting—

(a) the prevention of the generation of waste, and

(b) the reduction of the quantity of waste disposed of by means of an activity referred to in subsection (1),

once and once only in each financial year beginning with the financial year in which the Environment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2011 is passed.

(3B) The Minister shall, when amending the amount of levy standing specified in regulations under subsection (1), substitute an amount that does not exceed the amount so standing specified by €50.”,

(e) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (5):

“(5A) Where any amount of 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 levy and such interest shall be calculated from the date on which the 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.

(5B) Interest due in accordance with subsection (5A) shall be payable to the Environment Fund in the manner specified in the regulations under subsection (1) and the provisions of those regulations relating to the recovery of the levy shall apply to the interest as if it were levy.

(5C) Interest paid in accordance with subsection (5A) shall be treated as levy for the purposes of—

(a) subsection (8), in relation to provision under that subsection for levy by virtue of paragraph (l) of section 72(6), and

(b) section 74(7).”,

and

(f) by deleting subsection (9).