President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has on Wednesday, ratified the 17th Amendment Bill to the Export-Import Act of Maldives (Act No. 31/79).The aforementioned amendment bill was passed by the Parliament at the 20th sitting of its second session, on 15th July 2020.
Following ratification, no export duty can be taken from anything which is not listed under the 3rd section of the Import-Export Act. Moreover, 50% export duty from the FOB price will be charged from ambergris and a 5% royalty will be charged from the FOB price of goods re-exported for business.
The changes also include a 50% waiver on import duties on all goods, excluding those listed in the 7th section of this act, imported to any formal Seaport or Airport apart from ports in the Male’ Region. Also, a revenue fee of 1 Rufiyaa from every 100 Rufiyaa will be charged by the government from the price Maldives Customs Service allocates for all the goods imported, exported, or re-exported from the Maldives.
The Act also mandates that 3% of the proceeds from the import-duty imposed on tobacco and cigarettes, go to the public health fund to carry out anti-tobacco public awareness campaigns under the Public Health Protection Act 2012/7. Also starting from January 1, 2021, import of any goods declared by the President to be classified as single-use plastic, will be prohibited under section 7 of the Import-Export Act.
Following ratification, the Act has been published in the Government Gazette.