Customs and Excise (Suspension) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 (No. 285)

The immigrant's rebate on motor vehicles, in section 9NO of the Customs and Excise (Suspension) Regulations, 2003, has always required proof that the immigrant owned the imported vehicle for at least six months before arrival and at the time of importation. That rule punished returnees from countries that drive on the right, whose car is of no use in Zimbabwe and who therefore sell it before coming home.

That requirement may now be waived for an immigrant returning from residence in a country that drives on the right-hand side of the road. To get the waiver, the immigrant must produce at the time of importation proof of ownership and disposal of the vehicle they were using in that country, and proof that they owned that disposed-of vehicle for at least six months before selling it.

The same waiver is written into the documentation requirement in subsection 12, where the six-month ownership certificate is otherwise mandatory.

Everything else about the suspension is untouched. The regulations do not state a commencement date beyond their gazetting on 20 February 2026, and do not say whether returnees who imported before that date can claim the waiver retrospectively.