Certain non-essential goods have been subject to import control licenses by the Gazette Extraordinary No. 2270/18 of 2022-03-09.
Further, in order to obtain licenses from this Department for the items which are subject to license control by the above Gazette Notification, the recommendation of the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance should be obtained in accordance with the Regulation No. 04 of the said Gazette Notification. However, as the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance has given a general recommendation to this Department to import goods as per the above Gazette Notification for the following requirements, I hereby inform you that the applications should be submitted to this Department, for obtaining licenses for the purpose of importing goods for aforesaid requirements, as instructed below.
i. Liquor, alcoholic beverages and chocolate imported for duty-free on shopping malls, shipping warehouses and operating at the Airports and Ports.
ii. Raw materials and intermediate goods imported by TIEP Trade and BOI Trade under the Operations Activities of the Sri Lanka Customs and Board of Investment, on processing and re-export requirements.
Importers applying for import licenses for the above goods are required to follow the following procedure.
(1) Register with this Department through Online System.
(https://eservices.imexport.gov.lk)
(2) Obtain recommendations from relevent institutes as follows;
- For BOI businesses under BOI operations - Recommendation of BOI
- For liquor and alcoholic beverages - Recommendation of the Excise Department
- For Raw Materials – Recommendation of BOI (for the quantity & whether Import for production requirement)
(3) Follow the steps to apply for Import Control License through online system after obtaining the above recommendations.
