Importing vehicles with euro four standard by July 1- Customs not informed

The Sri Lanka Customs said they had not been informed by the government about importing vehicles compatible with the Euro four standards from July 1, Customs Department officials said.

It is a standard that sets a strict limit on the amount of particulate matter such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons that vehicles can emit.

Customs Media Spokesman Deputy Director Sunil Jayaratne said “The government was supposed to issue the gazette notification but no information had yet been received by the Customs Import Control Department,” he said. “Most of the vehicles being imported conform to euro four standards. Vehicle manufacturers know that their products should be compatible with the euro four standards. In fact the vehicles that are being imported from Japan and UK are upto euro six standards,” Mr Jayaratne said.

He said, there would be a problem for Indian vehicle importers if this rule comes into operation as their export quality does not meet euro four standards. However, their domestic manufacturers meet euro four standards.

He added that while it was necessary to transform to the euro four standards, there should be a procedure to remove the vehicles in the country which were not upto euro four standard.

Meanwhile, vehicle importers' associations claimed that they would not be able to import vehicles up to euro four standard by July 1 and they required more time for the transition to take place.

The government’s decision was to ban the import of vehicles which are not equipped with air bags and seat belts and were below the emission levels or its equivalent as prescribed by Euro four standards.

Accordingly, the import of vehicles which do not include airbags and seat belts for the driver and the front passenger, Anti-Locking Breaking System (ABS) standards and three-point seatbelts at the rear would be prohibited from July 1. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)