Ethiopia customs threatens legal action against rogue car importers

Ethiopia customs threatens legal action against rogue car importers

By Yohannes Anberbir

Ethiopia’s Revenue and Customs Authority (RCuA) is threatening to take legal action against individuals who have defaulted on their tax payments for more than 900 vehicles.
The vehicles were imported duty free following the incentive given four years ago to encourage Diasporas to return to their home country, but then the privilege was abused by selling the vehicles to third parties against regulations, says RCuA.
The authority’s warning about legal action is partly an attempt to save the possible large losses of several insurance companies that issued a customs guarantee bond on behalf of the importers.

The federal government issued the importation incentives for automobiles and other household materials for citizens who had been abroad for at least five years.
The plan worked as intended for many Diaspora, but there were others who abused it: more than 10,000 cars were imported over the years and sold on the local market. Some residents here are also said to have imported vehicles using forged duty free documents. The authority became cognizant of the problem after most of the offences were committed. It has seized more than 5,000 of the vehicles and it is still seeking to impound others involved in abuses of the system.

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