Govt. does U-turn; allows import of chemical fertiliser under licence regime

■ „Finance Minister issues new gazette with effect from July 31 allowing such imports ■ „Controller General of Imports and Exports instructs banks to facilitate such imports under ICL regime ■ „Customs has also been instructed to release imports of agrochemical items after ensuring importers are in possession of valid ICLS

Further relaxing the import restrictions initially imposed on agrochemicals, the Finance Ministry has allowed the importation of several previously banned chemical fertilisers under an import control licence (ICL) regime for plant nutrients, with effect from July 31, 2021, with the issuance of a fresh gazette notification.

“This department has brought chelated minerals and micro nutrients under the control of import licences for plant nutrients by Gazette Extraordinary No. 2238/45 dated July 31, 2021,” Controller General of Imports and Exports T.V.D. Damayanthi S. Karunarathne announced issuing a special notice.

According to the relevant gazette notification signed by Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa on July 30, several nitrogenous, phosphatic, potassic mineral or chemical fertilisers as well as mineral or chemical fertilisers containing two or three of the fertilising elements are brought under the ICL regime, with effect from July 31.

Accordingly, Karunarathne issued instructions to the importers to obtain licences and banks to facilitate imports of chemical fertilisers under the ICL regime.

The importers are required to submit applications of their requirements along the recommendation of the Director of the National Fertiliser Secretariat.

The Finance Ministry in an earlier gazette notification issued on May 6 allowed several chemical fertiliser elements and other agro-chemicals, including several insecticides, rodenticides, fungicides and herbicides, under the same ICL regime after imposing a blanket ban on agrochemicals previously.

Meanwhile, Karunarathne instructed commercial banks to proceed with the payments of importation of mentioned agrochemicals only with valid ICLS.

Similarly, Sri Lanka Customs has also been instructed to release imports of agrochemical items after ensuring that the importers are in possession of valid ICLS.

Opposition MP Harsha de Silva on his twitter account yesterday questioned whether the government has reversed the decision on banning import of chemical fertiliser, as announced by President Gotabya Rajapaksa.

“Has Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa reversed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s decision on banning import of chemical fertiliser? I questioned this morning on order dated yesterday but no reply yet. Below docs clearly show import ban that was ‘B’ has been replaced with licence ‘L’,” he stated.