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INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- LONG TITLE

An Act to make fresh provision for enabling financial aid to be
given towards expenditure on the provision of new business assets,
and for connected purposes.
[6th December 1966]
Grants

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 1

1.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Ministry of
Commerce (in this Act referred to as "the Ministry") may make to
any person carrying on a business in Northern Ireland a grant
towards approved capital expenditure incurred by that person in
providing new machinery or plant for use in Northern Ireland

(a)for carrying on a qualifying industrial process in the course of
that business; or

(b)for carrying on in the course of that business scientific
research relating to a qualifying industrial process whether carried
on in the course of that business or not.

(2) For the purposes of this section a qualifying industrial process
is a process for or incidental to any of the following purposes,
that is to say

(a)the making of any article;

(b)the searching for or, without prejudice to paragraph (a), the
extracting or getting, or the preparation for sale, of coal, oil or
other minerals, brine, peat or natural gas;

(c)the generation of energy;

(d)the repair, maintenance, conversion or refitting of a ship; or

(e)the construction, alteration or demolition of a building or of
any other fixed works of construction or civil engineering, including
a road.

(3) For the purposes of this section

(a)the repair or maintenance in the course of a business of an
article which is used in the course of that business for carrying
on a process for or incidental to any of the purposes mentioned in
subsection (2);

(b)the storage in the course of a business of anything which is to
be used in the course of that business for carrying on any such
process or which is to be or has been subjected to, or has
resulted from, any such process carried on in the course of that
business; and

(c)the packing in the course of a business of anything which is to
be or has been subjected to, or has resulted from, any such
process carried on in the course of that business,

(4) Machinery or plant provided for use in any area designated
under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964 for carrying
on any process for or incidental to the purpose mentioned in
subsection (2)(b) shall be treated for the purposes of this section
as provided for use in Northern Ireland.

(5) Machinery or plant provided by a person for protecting against
fire or other risks any premises, or property in any premises, used
by him for carrying on any process for or incidental to any of
the purposes mentioned in subsection (2), or for carrying on such
research as is mentioned in subsection (1)(b), shall be treated for
the purposes of this section as provided by him for use for
carrying on a process incidental to that purpose or, as the case
may be, for carrying on such research.

(6) Subject to any order under section 8, the amount of any grant
under this section shall be

(a) in the case of a grant made otherwise than by virtue of
subsection (4), forty per cent.; and

(b) in the case of a grant made by virtue of that subsection,
twenty per cent.;

(7) No grant shall be made under this section to any of the
bodies mentioned in Schedule 1 unless the machinery or plant in
question is provided for use for carrying on a process for or
incidental to the purpose mentioned in subsection (2)(a) or (d),
being a process the carrying on of which does not appear to the
Ministry to form part of the principal or main functions of that
body.

(8) This section shall apply to the production of a prototype of
an article of any description for use in carrying on scientific
research relating to any process for or incidental to the making of
articles of that description as it applies to the provision of
machinery or plant for use in carrying on such research.

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 2
Computers.

2.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Ministry may
make to any person carrying on a business in Northern Ireland a
grant towards approved capital expenditure incurred by that person in
providing a new computer for use in Northern Ireland for the
purposes of that business.

(2) Subject to any order under section 8, the amount of any grant
under this section shall be twenty per cent. of the expenditure in
respect of which it is made, except that in the case of a
computer as respects which the Ministry is satisfied that it is
provided solely or primarily

(a)for integration with machinery or plant which is or is to be
used for carrying on a qualifying industrial process within the
meaning of section 1, other than machinery or plant provided for
use as described in subsection (4) of that section; or

(b)for carrying on such research as is mentioned in subsection
(1)(b) of that section,

(3) For the purposes of this section, a computer shall be treated
as provided for integration with machinery or plant in any case in
which the Ministry is satisfied that it is to be used for
controlling, or recording or analysing data as to, the operation of
the machinery or plant and is to be linked with the machinery or
plant by a device for the automatic transmission of signals.

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 3
Hover vehicles.

3.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Ministry may
make to any person carrying on a business in Northern Ireland a
grant towards approved capital expenditure incurred by that person in
providing a new hover vehicle for use, whether or not in Northern
Ireland, for the purposes of that business.

(2) No grant shall be made under this section to

(a)an individual who is not ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland;

(b)a body corporate which is not incorporated and resident in
Northern Ireland.

(3) Subject to any order under section 8, the amount of any grant
under this section shall be twenty per cent. of the expenditure in
respect of which it is made.

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 4
Hired assets.

4.(1) References in this Act to providing machinery or plant, a
computer or a hover vehicle do not include references to providing
it by hiring it from another person; and nothing in the forgoing
provisions of this Act shall be construed as enabling a grant to
be made under those provisions towards expenditure incurred by a
person in providing any such asset for the purpose of hiring it
out to another person.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Ministry may
make to any person carrying on a business in Northern Ireland of
hiring out any asset mentioned in subsection (1) a grant towards
approved capital expenditure incurred by that person in providing for
the purposes of that business a new asset such as is mentioned in
that subsection, but such a grant shall be made only

(a)in the case of any such asset as aforesaid, if

(i)the asset has been hired out by him to another person; and

(ii)a grant could have been made under section 1, 2 or 3 to that
other person if the asset had been provided by him within the
meaning of that section and approved capital expenditure had been
incurred by him, in so providing it, on the date on which he took
possession of it; or

(b)in the case of machinery or plant, if it is provided for the
purpose of being hired out for use in Northern Ireland for carrying
on any process for or incidental to the purpose mentioned in
section 1(2)(e).

(3) Subject to any order under section 8, the amount of any grant
under this section shall

(a)in the case of

(i)machinery or plant (other than machinery or plant provided for
use as described in section 1(4) or machinery or plant in the case
of which the grant is made by virtue of subsection (2)(b)), or

(ii)a computer provided as described in section 2(2)(a) or (b),

(a)be forty per cent. of the expenditure in respect of which it is
made; and

(b)in any other case shall be twenty per cent. of the said
expenditure.

(4) In this section references to hiring do not include references
to hiring under a hire-purchase agreement.

Subs.(5) spent.

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 5
Buildings.

5.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Ministry may
make to any person carrying on in Northern Ireland a business in
the course of which a qualifying industrial process within the
meaning of section 1 is carried on a grant towards approved capital
expenditure incurred by that person in the construction (including
structural alteration, extension or improvement) of a building in
Northern Ireland for the purposes of that business.

(2) Subject to any order under section 8, the amount of any grant
under this section shall be forty per cent. of the expenditure in
respect of which it is made.

(3) No grant shall be made under this section to any of the
bodies mentioned in Schedule 1 unless the building in question is
provided for the purposes of a part of the functions of that body,
and for carrying on a process, in relation to which a grant may
be made to that body under section 1.

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 6
Ships.

6.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Ministry may
make to any person carrying on a business in Northern Ireland a
grant towards approved capital expenditure incurred by that person in
providing a new ship for use, whether or not in Northern Ireland,
for the purposes of that business or in converting a ship for such
use.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Ministry may
make to any person carrying on a buisiness in Northern Ireland a
grant towards approved capital expenditure incurred by that person in
providing a new part for a ship which is or is to be used as
mentioned in subsection (1).

(3) No grant shall be made under this section in respect of a
ship, or of the provision of a part for a ship, which

(a)is not registered in the United Kingdom under Part I of the
Merchant Shipping Act 1894; or

(b)is of less than one hundred tons gross tonnage or is not
self-propelled;

(4) No grant shall be made under this section to

(a)an individual who is not both a citizen of the United Kingdom
and Colonies and ordinarily resident in Northern Ireland;

(b)a body corporate which is not incorporated and resident in
Northern Ireland.

(5) A grant may be made under this section in respect of a ship
under construction if it appears to the Ministry that the
requirements of the foregoing provisions of this section will be
satisfied as respects that ship when it is completed.

(6) Subject to any order under section 8, the amount of any grant
under this section shall be twenty per cent. of the expenditure in
respect of which it is made.

(7) The reference in subsection (1) to providing a ship does not
include a reference to providing it by chartering it from another
person.

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 7
Mining works.

7.(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Ministry may
make to any person carrying on a business in Northern Ireland a
grant towards approved capital expenditure incurred by that person in
providing works in Northern Ireland for use for the carrying on in
the course of that business of any process for or incidental to
the searching for, or the extracting or getting of, coal, oil or
other minerals, brine, peat or natural gas.

(2) Works provided in any area designated under section 1(7) of the
Continental Shelf Act 1964 shall be treated for the purposes of
this section as provided in Northern Ireland.

(3) Subject to any order under section 8, the amount of any grant
under this section shall be

(a) in the case of a grant made otherwise than by virtue of
subsection (2), forty per cent.; and

(b) in the case of a grant made by virtue of that subsection,
twenty per cent.;

(4) The reference in subsection (1) to providing works does not
include a reference to providing works by leasing them from another
person.

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 8
Power to vary rates of grant and add further assets eligible for
grant.

8.(1) The Ministry may by an order made with the approval of the
Ministry of Finance

(a)vary the rates at which grant is payable under any of the
foregoing provisions of this Act;

(b)make provision for the making of grants under this Act, at such
rates as may be specified in the order, in respect of assets of
any class or description, being assets of a class or description
not eligible for grant under any of the foregoing provisions of
this Act.

[(c)provide that applications for grants under any of the foregoing
provisions of this Act towards approved capital expenditure incurred
before any date, or during any period, specified in the order are
to be made before a date specified in relation to that
expenditure.]

Subs.(2) rep. by 1971 c.34 (NI) s.4(2)

(3) An order under this section may specify the assets to which it
applies by reference to the nature of the assets or the place
where, or the purpose for which, they are or are to be used.

(4) An order under this section may contain such incidental and
supplementary provisions as appear to the Ministry to be appropriate,
including provisions making consequential modifications of any
reference in this Act to a rate of grant and provisions relating
to the expenditure as respects which the order is to have effect.

(5) An order under this section shall take effect on such date as
may be specified in the order, but shall cease to have effect upon
the expiration of a period of six months from that date unless at
some time before the expiration of that period the order has been
confirmed by a resolution of each House of Parliament.[

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 8A
Grants to bodies corporate who make planning agreements.

8A. Where a body corporate has made a planning agreement within the
meaning of section 21(2) of the Industry Act 1975, the amount of
grant under sections 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7 of this Act in respect of
approved capital expenditure during the period of the planning
agreement in respect of any project identified in the agreement may
not be less than

(i)the percentage which is the prescribed percentage at the date of
the planning agreement, or

(ii)in the case of a project which was also identified in a
previous planning agreement, the percentage which was the prescribed
percentage at the date of that agreement,

1975 c.68

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 9

9.[(1) The Department, after consultation with the advisory committee,
may make to any person carrying on in Northern Ireland a business
in the course of which a qualifying industrial process within the
meaning of section 1 is carried on loans towards, or grants in
respect of interest payable on loans obtained for the purposes of,
capital expenditure incurred by that person

(a)in providing for use in Northern Ireland any of the following
assets

(i)new machinery or plant, or

(ii)a new computer provided as described in section 2(2)(a); or

(b)in the construction of a new, or the modernisation, extension or
reconstruction of an existing, building in Northern Ireland where
that construction, modernisation, extension or reconstruction is part
of a substantial scheme approved by the Department for the
modernisation or reorganisation of the business.

(2) Where under subsection (1) the Department may lend a sum or
make a grant to a person (in this subsection referred to as "the
qualifying person") and the Department is satisfied that if it lent
that sum or made that grant to some other person, he would lend
or pay it to the qualifying person towards approved capital
expenditure incurred by the qualifying person, the Department may,
after consultation with the advisory committee lend that sum or pay
that grant to that other person.]

(3) A loan under [subsection (1) or (2)] shall be made on such
terms and conditions and on such security [, and a grant under
subsection (1) or (2) shall be made on such terms and conditions,]
as the Ministry thinks proper and as are specified in the agreement
for the loan [or grant].

[(3A) Subject to subsection (3B), where any instalment of principal
or interest or both principal and interest due on foot of any loan
made under subsection (1) or (2) is more than thirty-one days in
arrear additional interest at such rate as may from time to time
be determined by an order made by the Department of Finance subject
to negative resolution shall, notwithstanding any enactment or rule
of law to the contrary, be chargeable on that instalment as from
the date on which it fell due and shall be recoverable therewith.

(3B) The Department may, with the approval of the Department of
Finance, in such cases as it thinks fit waive the payment of such
additional interest as is mentioned in subsection (3A).]

(4) In [subsections (1) and (2)]

"the advisory committee" means the committee appointed by the
Minister under [section 1(7)] of the Industries Development Act
(Northern Ireland) 1966;

"appropriate area" means a locality approved by the Ministry as a
locality in which it is desirable that the business in question
should be rehoused.

1966 c.36

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 10

10.(1) Without prejudice to section 9(3), in making a grant or loan
under this Act in respect of any asset the Ministry shall impose
such conditions as it thinks fit for securing that the asset will
continue to be used as required by the provision under which the
grant or loan is made and, where the grant is made under section
6, for restricting the chartering of the ship concerned; and such
conditions may include (in the case of a grant) conditions for
repayment in specified circumstances.

(2) The Ministry may by notice require any person who has received
a grant or loan under this Act, and any person acting on his
behalf, to furnish to the Ministry such information, or to produce
for examination on behalf of the Ministry such books, records or
other documents, as may be specified in the notice for the purpose
of enabling the Ministry to determine whether any condition subject
to which the grant or loan is made is satisfied or is being
complied with or whether the grant has become repayable in whole or
in part, or the loan has become repayable on terms other than the
terms on which it would otherwise have been repayable, in accordance
with any such condition.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), a notice under subsection (2) may
require the information to which it relates to be furnished within
such time as may be specified in the notice, and may require the
documents to which it relates to be produced at such time and
place as may be so specified.

(4) The time specified in a notice under subsection (2) for
furnishing any information or producing any document shall not be
earlier than the end of the period of twenty-eight days beginning
with the service of the notice.

(5) Any person duly authorised in that behalf by the Ministry may
for the purposes mentioned in subsection (2), on production (if so
required) of written evidence of his authority, at all reasonable
times enter and inspect any premises where any asset in respect of
which a grant or loan under this Act has been made is, or in
accordance with any condition attached to the grant or loan should
be, and require any person appearing to him to have charge of
those premises to produce or identify the asset for inspection.

(6) Any person who in purported compliance with a notice under
subsection (2) knowingly or recklessly makes any statement or
produces any document which is false in a material particular shall
be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine
not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to imprisonment for a term not
exceeding three months, or to both, or on conviction on indictment
to a fine, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years,
or to both.

(7) Any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with a
notice under subsection (2) shall be guilty of an offence and
liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred
pounds or, on a second or subsequent conviction, three hundred
pounds.

(8) Any person who wilfully obstructs any person in the exercise of
a right of entry under subsection (5), or without reasonable excuse
fails to comply with a requirement under that subsection, shall be
guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine
not exceeding fifty pounds.

(9) Any person who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with
any condition subject to which a grant or loan was made to him
under this Act requiring him to inform the Ministry of any event
whereby the grant becomes repayable in whole or in part or the
loan becomes repayable on terms other than the terms on which it
would have been repayable if the event had not occurred shall be
guilty of an offence and liable

(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding three hundred
pounds;

(b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding one thousand
pounds or three times the amount so repayable, whichever is the
greater.

Subs.(10) rep. by 1980 NI 6 art.13 sch.2

S.11 rep. by 1969 c.16 (NI) s.31(2) sch.3 Pt.I

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 12
Conditions.

12. As soon as may be after 31st March in the year 1968 and in
each subsequent year thereafter, the Ministry shall prepare a report
on the discharge of its functions under this Act and shall lay the
report before Parliament.

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 13
Annual reports.

13.(1) The expenses incurred by the Ministry under this Act shall,
except to the extent to which the Ministry of Finance may under
subsection (2) direct such expenses to be defrayed from the
Consolidated Fund, be defrayed out of moneys provided by Parliament.

(2) Expenditure, not exceeding in the aggregate the sum of [one
hundred and fifteen million pounds], incurred or to be incurred by
the Ministry in making grants or loans under this Act shall, if
the Ministry of Finance so directs, be defrayed by means of sums
charged on and issued out of the Consolidated Fund.

(3) The Ministry of Finance may borrow money for the purpose of
providing for issues out of the Consolidated Fund under subsection
(2).

(4) Moneys borrowed under subsection (3) shall be repaid within
twenty-five years from the date of borrowing, and provision for such
repayment may be made out of moneys provided by Parliament.

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 14
Financial provisions.

14.(1) In this Act

"approved capital expenditure" in relation to any grant or loan
means expenditure appearing to the Ministry to be of a capital
nature and approved by it for the purposes of the grant or, as
the case may be, the loan;

"article" means an article of any description (including any means
of transport) and includes part of an article;

"asset" includes any such works as are mentioned in section 7;

"building" includes a structure, except that the Ministry may treat
any structure as machinery or plant to such extent as the Ministry
considers appropriate;

"business" includes a trade or profession but does not include the
activities of

(a)a local authority as defined in section 66 of the Finance Act
1965;

(b)the Northern Ireland Housing Trust;

(c)a new town commission within the meaning of the New Towns Act
(Northern Ireland) 1965;

(d)a university, school or other establishment of education;

and references to a person carrying on a business include, except
where the context otherwise requires, references to a person
proposing to carry on a business;

"computer" means

(a)a stored programme digital computer, or

(b)an analogue computer,

used for automatic data processing and includes part of such a
computer;

["conditional sale agreement" means an agreement for the sale of
goods under which the purchase price or part of it is payable by
instalments, and the property in the goods is to remain in the
seller (notwithstanding that the buyer is to be in possession of
the goods) until such conditions as to the payment of instalments
or otherwise as may be specified in the agreement are fulfilled;]

"expenditure" in relation to the provision by a person of an asset
includes

(a)except where the context otherwise requires, expenditure on or
incidental to the installation of the asset;

(b)expenditure consisting of instalments under a hire-purchase
agreement or otherwise consisting of instalments of or payments
towards the purchase price of or cost of providing the asset; and

(c)where the asset is provided by being manufactured or constructed
by that person, such sum as appears to the Ministry to be properly
attributable to its provision by him in that manner;

["hire-purchase agreement" has the same meaning as in the
Hire-Purchase Act (Northern Ireland) 1966;]

["hire-purchase agreement" means an agreement, other than a
conditional sale agreement, under which

(a)goods are bailed in return for periodical payments by the person
to whom they are bailed or hired, and

(b)the property in the goods will pass to that person if the terms
of the agreement are complied with and one or more of the
following occurs

(i)the exercise of an option to purchase by that person,

(ii)the doing of any other specified act by any party to the
agreement,

<(iii)the happening of any other specified event;]

"hover vehicle" means [a hovercraft within the meaning of the
Hovercraft Act 1968 and includes part of such a hovercraft];

"machinery or plant" includes part of any machinery or plant but
does not include a computer, ship or aircraft or any vehicle except

(a)a vehicle constructed or adapted for the conveyance of a machine
incorporated in or permanently attached to it and of no other load
except articles used for the purposes of the machine;

(b)a vehicle constructed or adapted for the conveyance or haulage of
loads in or about private premises, including the site of building
or civil engineering operations;

"the Minister" means the Minister of Commerce;

"the Ministry" has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(1);

"new"

(a)except in relation to a building, means unused and not
second-hand, except that the Ministry may treat as new anything
which has been substantially reconditioned;

(b)in relation to a building, means not previously occupied;

"scientific research" means any activity in the fields of natural or
applied science for the extension of knowledge;

"ship" includes any vessel used in navigation.

(2) Where a new building is purchased by a person for the purposes
of his business, so much of the expenditure incurred by him in
such purchase as appears to the Ministry to be attributable to the
cost of constructing the building may be treated for the purposes
of this Act as expenditure incurred by that person in the
construction thereof.

(3) Expenditure incurred in carrying out works on land (including
expenditure incurred in demolishing the whole or any part of a
building) for the purposes of a building constructed or proposed to
be constructed on that or any adjacent land may be treated for the
purposes of this Act as expenditure incurred in the construction of
the second-mentioned building.

Subs.(4) rep. by 1969 c.48 s.141 sch.11 Pt.II

(5) For the purposes of this Act expenditure shall be treated as
incurred at the time when the sums of which it consists become
payable.

(6) A grant or loan may be made under this Act in respect of any
expenditure incurred on or after 17th January 1966 and of any
expenditure incurred before that date so far as it consists of a
sum paid after that date.

(7) For the purposes of subsections (5) and (6) expenditure which
does not consist of a sum payable or paid to another person shall
be deemed to consist of a sum payable or, as the case may be,
paid at such time as the Ministry considers appropriate having
regard to the time when the matters giving rise to that expenditure
occurred.

Subs.(8) spent

(9) Any amount which is repayable to the Ministry under this Act
may, without prejudice to any other means of recovery, be recovered
by deduction from any grant or other sum payable out of moneys
provided by Parliament or by any Ministry of Northern Ireland to
the person from whom the amount is due, and that grant or other
sum shall be abated accordingly.

INDUSTRIAL INVESTMENT (GENERAL ASSISTANCE) ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1966
- SECT 15
1968 c.59

15.(1) This Act may be cited as the Industrial Investment (General
Assistance) Act (Northern Ireland) 1966.

Subs.(2), with Schedule 2, effects repeals; subs.(3) spent

Schedule 2Repeals

Sections 1(7) and 5(3).