(1) Where any thing, not being a thing condemned or deemed to be condemned as forfeited, may by virtue of any customs enactment be sold, it shall, unless it is of a perishable nature, be offered for sale at a public auction.
(2) Any auction under this section shall be advertised in the Gazette and in a newspaper circulated in Saint Lucia, not less than 7 days before it is due to take place.
(3) The Comptroller shall appoint a person, who may be an officer, to act as auctioneer at any auction under this section.
(4) All monies arising from the sale of any thing at an auction under this section shall be used to pay—
(a) firstly, any duty payable on that thing; and
(b) secondly, all the charges of and incidental to the sale, warehousing and carriage of that thing,
and any residue shall, if application is made within 6 months of the sale, be paid over to any person who satisfies the Comptroller that he or she was the owner of that thing at the time of its sale.
(5) The Comptroller shall offer for sale anything which is of a perishable nature in the manner which appears to him or her, bearing in mind its nature, most likely to realise the largest sum.
(6) Anything which cannot be sold at any auction under this section or by the Comptroller under subsection (5) shall be destroyed or otherwise disposed of as the Comptroller may direct.
(7) The provisions of this section apply to the sale of any vessel or aircraft which may be sold by virtue of section 134 except that the sum ordered to be paid by that section is satisfied out of the monies arising from the sale before any amount is repaid to the person who was the owner of the vessel or aircraft.
(8) Any sale by auction under this section may take place at the same time and place as a sale under section 134.