Sri Lanka relaxes import restrictions on used motor vehicles

Sri Lanka government has decided to relax the restrictions imposed on the imports of used motor vehicles.

The President directed the officials to relax the restrictions following a discussion with the vehicle importers. The discussion was held in the Temple Trees yesterday.

Accordingly, the restriction for used commercial vehicles has been relaxed from 3 1/2 years to four years. That means that commercial vehicles used upto four years can be imported to Sri Lanka now.

The restriction for other vehicles has been relaxed from one year to two years.

The delegation of the vehicle importers' association was led by Yoga Perera. Deputy Minister of Finance Geethanjana Gunawardhana, secretary of the Ministry of Finance P.B. Jayasundara and a number of other state officials participated in the discussion.
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Imported dismantled vehicles nabbed by customs at Colombo harbor

Sri Lanka Customs is now extremely vigilant regarding import of vehicles as parts. A container included vehicles worth of Rs. 20 million without taxes was arrested by Custom Department was seized on April 10 at Colombo harbor.

The importer, a vehicle businessman in Kurunegala attempted to get the container released after paying import taxes for vehicle parts that is lower than the tax on vehicles.

However, the container that had been shipped from Nagoya included four vehicles of Misubishi, Suzuki and Toyota brands dismantled. They were more than five years old and needs special permission to be imported.

These businessmen re-assemble these vehicles with old chassis numbers to be used as vehicle earlier registered. They find massive profits from this business.

Sri Lanka government recently increased the taxes on imported vehicles sharply.

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