Customs and Excise (General) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 (No. 118)
Gold bars imported by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, or an agency it appoints, are duty free for two years from the first date of importation — and a long-standing muddle in the numbering of rebate sections is corrected.
The Minister of Finance has inserted a new section 144Y into the Customs and Excise (General) Regulations, 2001, granting a rebate of duty on the importation of gold bars under tariff code 7108.2000 by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, or any agency the Bank appoints, for the Bank's exclusive use. The rebate is subject to conditions the Commissioner-General may fix.
The commencement wording is unusual: the regulations are deemed to have come into operation "for a period of two years from the first date of importation". That ties the two-year window to the Bank's first import rather than to a calendar date, and the instrument does not say what that date is. Gazetted 19 April 2024.
The second half of the instrument is housekeeping, but useful housekeeping. A Schedule corrects the section numbering in twelve earlier amending instruments going back to 2006, where successive amendments had reused the same section numbers in Part XIII. Among the corrections: S.I. 50 of 2006 renumbers 144K to 144L; S.I. 117 of 2007 renumbers 144L to 144N; S.I. 16 of 2008 renumbers 144N to 144O; S.I. 98 of 2011 renumbers 144R to 144S; S.I. 157 of 2011 renumbers 144P to 144PA and 144Q to 144QA; S.I. 19 of 2012 renumbers 144L to 144LA; S.I. 6 of 2016 renumbers 144T to 144U; S.I. 41 of 2018 renumbers 144J to 144JA; S.I. 52 of 2019 renumbers 144U to 144UA; S.I. 88 of 2020 renumbers 144X to 144W; and S.I. 134 of 2023 renumbers 144X to 144XA.
Anyone who has cited a rebate section number from those instruments in a ruling, a bond or a court paper should check it against this Schedule, because the section they relied on may now carry a different number.
What changed
- New section 144Y grants a rebate of duty on gold bars (tariff code 7108.2000) imported by or for the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
- The rebate is for the Bank's exclusive use and subject to conditions fixed by the Commissioner-General
- The rebate runs for two years from the first date of importation rather than from a fixed calendar date
- Section numbering in twelve earlier amending instruments from 2006 to 2023 is corrected
Who this affects
- the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and agencies importing gold on its behalf
- clearing agents handling bullion imports
- ZIMRA officers administering Part XIII rebates
- customs practitioners citing rebate section numbers
Plain-language summary — not legal advice. Always read the full instrument.