Commonwealth legislation

Standard for Industrial Spirits Regulations (Provisional)

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Act Number

101 of 1911

Collection

legislative instrument

Plain English Summary

1/10 complexity

This regulation sets the official chemical recipe for industrial spirits (also called methylated spirits) in Australia, replacing the previous 1906 standard.

What it requires:

Industrial spirits must be at least 65 degrees overproof (a high alcohol concentration) before additives are mixed in.
To make the alcohol unfit for drinking—and therefore exempt from beverage taxes—manufacturers must add three specific ingredients:
- 2% wood naphtha
- 0.5% pyridine liquid
- 0.5% coal tar naphtha

Why it matters: This ensures industrial alcohol is chemically distinct from drinkable spirits, preventing tax fraud while providing a standardised product for legitimate industrial use.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in Standard for Industrial Spirits Regulations (Provisional).

Standard for Industrial Spirits Regulations (Provisional)

STATUTORY RULES.

1911. No. 101.

PROVISIONAL REGULATION UNDER THE SPIRITS ACT 1906.

I, THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby certify that, on account of urgency, the following Regulation under the Spirits Act 1906, should come into immediate operation, and make the Regulation to come into operation forthwith as a Provisional Regulation.

Dated this 30th day of June, One thousand nine hundred and eleven.

DUDLEY,

Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

FRANK G. TUDOR,

Minister of State for Trade and Customs.

———

Standard for Industrial Spirits.

The following shall be the standard for Industrial Spirits, in lieu of that set out in the Schedule to the Spirits Act 1906:—

The spirit before methylation to be of a strength not less than 65 degrees overproof, and to be methylated by the addition of two per cent. of wood naphtha, one-half per cent. of pyridine liquid, and one-half per cent. of coal tar naphtha.

Printed and Published for the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia by J. Kemp, Government Printer for the State of Victoria.

C.9614.—Price 3d.

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

1 Standard for Industrial Spirits Regulations (Provisional)