Sri Lanka imposes Duty on Tsunami relief supplies

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 February 2005, 02:30 GMT]
Government of Sri Lanka has imposed taxes at current commercial rates on donated relief supplies including water purification tablets arriving in Colombo addressed to Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) including Tamil Rehabilitiation Organization (TRO), civil sources in Colombo said. Only medicine and infant milk formula are exempt from taxes, according to TRO office in Colombo.

"The Ministry of Finance and Planning released instructions to the Director of General Customs claiming disaster management has moved to the reconstruction phase and therefore regulation on importation items should return to normal procedure under the relevant tax laws," a report posted at the Tsunami Disaster Management Unit website run by the TRO said.

Director of TRO, Mr Reggie, has informed TRO offices in other countries, and expatriate Tamil well-wishers to withhold shipments until the tax issue is resolved, sources said.