40. (1) A person who—

(a) fails to comply with a duty, obligation, requirement or condition imposed under the Customs Acts which relates to F7[Article 135, Article 233(1), (2) and (3) or Article 242 of the Customs Code Regulation] is liable to a penalty of €500 in respect of each such failure,

(b) fails to comply with a duty, obligation, requirement or condition imposed under the Customs Acts which relates to a declaration, in respect of each such failure, where the person—

(i) does not make the declaration, he or she is liable to a penalty of €2,000,

(ii) does not make the declaration within the time limit specified under the Customs Acts, he or she is liable to a penalty of €250 for each month or part of a month during which the return remains outstanding, subject to a maximum penalty of €2,000,

(iii) makes an incorrect or incomplete declaration, he or she is liable to a penalty of €100,

(iv) makes a declaration using an electronic data-processing technique while not in possession of the required supporting documents, he or she is liable to a penalty of €100,

or

(c) fails to comply with a duty, obligation, requirement or condition imposed under the Customs Acts which relates to a matter other than those specified in paragraph (a) or (b), is liable to a penalty of €250 in respect of each such failure.

(2) Where the person referred to in subsection (1) is a body of persons and they fail to comply with a duty, obligation, requirement or condition imposed under the Customs Acts, then the person acting in the capacity of secretary to such body is liable to a separate penalty of an equivalent amount to that stated in that subsection in respect of each such failure.

(3) Any penalty payable under this section is deemed to be a debt due to the Minister for the benefit of the Central Fund and shall be payable to the Commissioners.

(4) Chapter 3A (inserted by section 98 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2008) of Part 47 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 shall apply to any penalty payable under this section and Part 7 shall not apply.

(5) Nothing in this section shall prevent any action or other proceedings being brought for the collection or recovery of duties of customs.

(6) In this section—

“declaration” means any declaration, return or statement required to be made by a person in accordance with the Customs Acts and includes a declaration made using an electronic data-processing technique;

“supporting documents” means the documents—

(a) required under the Customs Acts to support a declaration, and

(b) where the declaration is made using an electronic data-processing technique, which are required to be in the possession of the person making the declaration.