The parliament on Wednesday passed the amendment to the Export Import Act, which proposes hiking the duty imposed on imported energy drinks, by roughly 200 percent.
If ratified by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the price of energy drinks per litre would increase from present MVR 33 to MVR 60.
The draft bill initially filed by parliament representative for Gan, Laamu Atoll, Mohamed Wisam, was amended following a proposal by parliamentary representative for Haa Dhaalu's Kulhudhuffushi-North constituency Yasir Abdul Latheef, to increase the duty on energy drinks.
The amendment to the Import-Export Act also reduces the duty on goods imported through the regional ports of Addu City and Kulhudhuffushi City by 50 percent.
According to suggestions by Male' City's Henveiru-South MP Hussain Shameem, import duties imposed on new vehicles, including cars, vans and jeeps, were limited to 100 percent while rates for second-hand vehicles were set at 200 percent.
Additional measures under the amendment include the reduction of tariffs on luxury cosmetics to five percent, slashing duties on perfume to ten percent and cutting duties on all types of batteries, excluding car batteries, to five percent.
The amendments were proposed in one of the 56 bills submitted by the Attorney General's (AG) Office to the Parliament during the first session of 2020.
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