Gold, silver traders urge not to charge duty on jewelry

 Kathmandu, July 12

The gold and silver traders have urged the Department of Customs (DoC) to facilitate the movement of Nepali original jewelry throug the customs office at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).

In a meeting with Director General of the DoC on Tuesday, the entrepreneurs said that the customs office at the TIA is unnecessarily applying strict measures when someone comes to Nepal wearing Nepali original jewelry.

A delegation of the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Associaton led by its President Manik Ratna Shakya made the request to the DG.

Shakya expressed dissatisfaction over the customs duty levied on those who bring more than 50 grams of gold jewelry to Nepal from abroad in the form of indigenous ornaments. He maintained that the customs should not charge customs duty on the jewelry.

According to the existing provision, every person coming to Nepal from abroad can bring up to 50 grams of gold jewelry on customs duty exemption.

But there is no such limit in the case of jewelry. Businessmen have protested against the move after it was found that they can wear jewelry when they go out of Nepal, but if they wear more than 50 grams of jewelry when they come to Nepal from abroad, they have to pay the customs duty.

Bhattarai said that he would look into the matter and take initiative to address the problems of the businessmen. However, he said that it had to be tightened after it was found that some people were trying to bring gold under the pretext of carrying jewelry.

Published in The Rising Nepal on 13 July 2022.