Duty on equipment

In the past, equipment could be zero-rated on an ad-hoc basis through a bogged down bureaucratic process.

No longer. Goods that cannot be manufactured in Fiji are seeing massive duty reductions, with customs duties falling to five per cent, and zero per cent in some cases: Attorney-General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum last night announced:

We’re eliminating the duty for all items under the Customs Tariffs Act 1986, which includes machinery, mechanical appliances and mechanical parts;

We’re reducing fiscal duty to 5 per cent and eliminating import excise tax on a range of white goods, including air conditioners, refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, microwaves, lawn mowers, hair dryers, toasters, electric stoves and kettles, and smartphones. We are reducing the specific duty by 75 per cent on hybrid cars and nonhybrid cars. In addition, for new, non-hybrid cars we are reducing the fiscal from 15 per cent to 5 per cent. Lastly, on all non-hybrid cars, we are removing the excise duty. There’s no restriction on age for vehicles to qualify for these exemptions, but all non-hybrid cars must meet Euro 4 Fuel standards. The luxury vehicle levy has also been removed and the Accident Compensation Levy has been halved through the next year.

And new air-bag trailers for trucks –– which are much gentler on our roads –– are not only duty-free, buyers can access a $20,000 grant towards their purchase. Used air-bag trailers will now only attract a 5 per cent duty. By getting these more agile vehicles on our roads, we actually keep our roads from deteriorating. We’re thankful to those trucking companies which are complying with our road loads.