Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2017-11-21

Regulations in respect of the list of the Import Control and Banned Items and the list of the Export Control Items under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, No.1 of 1969

- Sri Lanka has been a member of the World Customs Organization since the year 1968 and the country is obligatory to implement the International Convention on Harmonized Commodity Description and the Coding System. Steps have been taken to update the new Harmonized Coding System in accordance with the sharp changes in the Patterns of International Trade and Technology and as such, the National Harmonized System has been amended as a Harmonized Coding System with eight digits.

It is necessary to amend the Regulations (controlled items) published under the Imports and Exports (Control) Act, No.1 of 1969 pertaining to the import control, banned and export control items to coincide with the same. Accordingly, the proposal made by Hon. Malik Samarawickrema, the Minister of Development Strategies and International Trade, to present the Gazette Extraordinary Notifications No.2044/40 and No.2044/41 dated 2017‑11‑09 published with amendments to those regulations, in Parliament, for approval, was approved by the Cabinet.