Call for action to curtail fake mobiles

Anjana Samarasinghe

Local mobile phone importers call for strong law enforcement to combat illegal mobile phone imports to Sri Lanka.

Some illegal importers bring mobile phones in their baggage to the country. Recently Sri Lanka Customs announced that all the goods for commercial purposes/ commercial quantities have to be imported in accordance with the provision of the Import Control Act and regulations framed thereunder.

Customs also informed all the goods for commercial purposes/ commercial quantities, import/ bought in accompanied or unaccompanied baggage and gift, contrary to the Import control Act and the regulations framed will be forfeited.

In addition, the importer of such goods will also be liable to penalties/ forfeited in terms of section 129 of the Customs Ordinance. This was enforced with effect from May 15.

"We are optimistic that this initiative will help in combating the grey market in Sri Lanka with strong implementation Director/Chief Executive Officer of Softlogic Communications Samantha Rajapaksa said.

However there should be strong implementation and enforcement of these laws in the country.

We estimate that there are over 20000 mobile phones entering the local market through illegal channels every month.

The Government is losing a large amount of revenue due to these illegal channels, he said.

The Government has imposed a 6 per cent tax and VAT for mobile phones imported to Sri Lanka.

Softlogic as authorised dealer for Nokia phones in Sri Lanka educates customers on advantages of purchasing original phones with warranty and we offer competitive prices for mitigating this gray market he said.

Senior Sales Manager of Abans Office Automation, Dinesh Anthony said these smuggled hand phones come from Dubai, China and India to Sri Lanka.

Nearly 25,000 to 30,000 smuggled hand phones enter the local market every month. This amount increases during the festive season of December and April.

Abans is the dealer for Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson, Philips and Panasonic mobile phones in Sri Lanka. "These illegal phone imports badly impact on our business too," he said.

Any mobile phone importer needs to register with the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) for importing them to the country.

Relevant authorities need to monitor operations of these mobile phone importers through the strong implementation and enforcement of the law, Anthony said.