On 23 July 2020, the President ratified the Seventeenth Amendment to the Maldives’ Export Import Act (Law Number 7/2020) (the Amendment), which, among others, brings several changes to the rates of import duty. The Amendment Bill, which was presented to the parliament on 9 June 2020, was passed by the parliament on 15 July 2020.

Most notably, the Amendment:

• Introduces a royalty on commercially re-exported goods at 5% of FOB value.
• Introduces a 50% waiver of import duty on goods cleared at any recognised seaport or airport other than in the Male’ region, except on:
  • tobacco, tobacco products, tobacco substitutes, electronic cigarettes, vaping devices and their parts;
  • alcohol and products containing alcohol; and
  • pork and products containing pork.
• Abolishes the 0.1% stamp duty on imports and exports and replaces it with a 1% “revenue fee” on the value of imported, exported and re-exported goods.
• Increases the import duty on:
  • cigarettes, from MVR 2 to MVR 3 per stick.
  • drinking straws, from 20% to 400% of FOB value.
  • single use/disposable plastic films, sheets, tube rolls, plates, cutlery, and similar products, from 20% to 200% of FOB value.
• Reduces/abolishes the import duty on certain goods.
• Earmarks 3% of duty collected from cigarettes and tobacco products towards the public health fund established under the Public Health Safety Act (Law Number 7/2012).
• Introduces a ban on import of plastics and plastics-based products as determined by the President, from 1 January 2021.

The Amendment came into effect on 1 August 2020.