Customs and Excise (General) (Amendment) Notice, 2024 (No. 117)

This amendment, applying with effect from 1 January 2024, adds two subsections to section 143 of the Customs and Excise (General) Regulations, 2001 (S.I. 154 of 2001), which grants serving Members of Parliament a rebate of duty on an imported motor vehicle.

The general rule, in the new subsection (7), is that a serving MP who was eligible for the rebate and had purchased a vehicle but, for reasons beyond his or her control, could not present it for clearance during the life of that Parliament, may present it for clearance within 90 days after the last day of the life of the Parliament in which they served. That closes a gap that previously left an MP holding a purchased vehicle with no rebate once Parliament dissolved.

The new subsection (8) is a one-off transitional. An MP who bought a vehicle during the life of the 9th Parliament and could not clear it in time was allowed to clear it for consumption, on a once-off basis, by 31 March 2024. That window has since closed.

Both reliefs depend on the vehicle having actually been purchased during the term and on the failure to clear being due to circumstances beyond the member's control. The regulations do not say who determines that, so the assessment sits with ZIMRA.

One drafting inconsistency: the instrument is titled a Notice but describes itself in the body as regulations. Note also that the extracted text prints the instrument twice; there is only one set of amendments.