Sri Lanka Clamps Down on Giving Mobile Phones As Gifts

Customs officials in Sri Lanka have started clamping down on people brining in mobile phones as gifts in an attempt to curb the growing grey market for mobile phones in the country. The government imposes a six percent import tax plus sales taxes on all imported phones making smuggling a profitable enterprise.

The Sri Lanka Customs has announced that all goods for commercial purposes/commercial quantities have to be imported in accordance with the provision of the Import Control Act. The Customs office said that all phones it suspected as being brought in for resale would be confiscated.

Local mobile phone distributors had appealed to the government to clamp down on the grey market which harms their sales.

Dinesh Anthony, Sr Sales Manager of Abans Office Automation, a dealer for many mobile phone brands, said these smuggled hand phones come from Dubai, China and India to Sri Lanka, the Daily News newspaper reported.

It is estimated that over 20,000 mobile phones are entering the country through illegal channels every month.

Last July, we reported that the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce had issued a warning that Bermuda's customs officers were demanding proof that BlackBerry phones had been brought in the domestic market if residents traveled overseas with their handset.

The local Royal Gazette newspaper says that all electronic devices must be registered with Customs if they are arriving on the Island for the first time or have been purchased in Bermuda, otherwise the owner faces paying tax on the item each time they bring it back onto the Island.

On the web: Daily News - Royal Gazette

Posted to the site on 6th June 2008