Press briefing of Cabinet Decision taken on 2019-04-30

Vesting of the Administration activities of the Excise (Special Provisions) Act, No.13 of 1989 with the Director General of Sri Lanka Customs

- The administration activities have been vested with the Director General of Excise in terms of the Excise (Special Provisions) Act, No.13 of 1989 and amendments related thereto. Although, the Cabinet had granted approval previously to appoint the Director General of Sri Lanka Customs as the Director General of Excise (Special Provisions) to carry out the provision of the Excise Act and to amend the relevant Acts accordingly, no such amendments to the Act, have been made. As such, the proposal made by Hon. Mangala Samaraweera, the Minister of Finance, to amend the Excise (Special Provisions) Act, enabling the Director General of Sri Lanka Customs to levy, collect, recover the arrears and refund duties on excisable articles in order to overcome the issues faced when this Act comes into operation, was approved by the Cabinet.