Nepal - Customs and duties

Customs and duties are a principle source of domestic revenue. Import tariffs are generally assessed on an ad valorem basis, with duties ranging from 0% to 140%. Most primary products, including live animals and fish, enter duty-free. Machinery and goods related to basic needs are charged 5%. Duties on agricultural imports were fixed in 2003 at 10%. Cigarettes and alcoholic beverages are charged at 100%, although alcoholic beverages with more that 60% alcohol are prohibited altogether. Other prohibited imports include narcotic drugs and beef and beef products. Products that may be imported only under special licenses include arms, ammunition, and explosives; and communication equipment, including computers, TVs, VCRs, and walkie-talkies. Valuable metals and jewelry are prohibited except under bag and baggage regulations. According to the World Bank, Nepal's weighted average tariff rate in 2000, the most recent data available, was 17.7%. This average probably increased in 2001 and 2002 because of "security surcharges" levied on most imports. No special fee was assessed on goods with tariff rates less than 2.5%. For goods with charged duties up to 5%, the surcharge was 1%, and for all those with duties above 5%, the surcharge was 3%.

The export service charge is 0.5% and there are export duties on vegetable ghee and plastic goods of 2 to 10%. Prohibited exports include archeological and religious artifacts; controlled wildlife; narcotics; arms, ammunition and explosives; industrial raw materials; imported raw materials, parts and capital goods; and timber and logs. Since 1960, under the duty refund procedure (DRP), India has refunded to Nepal the excise duties levied on its exports to Nepal. Goods imported from India are granted a rebate of the application of ad valorem of 10% in tariff rates up to 40% and of 7% on rates above 40%.

Nepal, under bilateral trade agreements with India, has in past been afforded duty-free or preferential entry. However, the most recent India-Nepal Treaty of Trade, signed March 2002, while it continues to allow Nepali manufactures to enter the India market on a non-reciprocal, preferential or duty-free basis, with rules of origin less restrictive than the international norm (Nepal's manufacturers can have up to 70% foreign content instead of a international norm of less than 50%), India placed quotas on four sensitive imports: vegetable fats, acrylic yarn, copper products, and ferro oxide, all at volumes lower than recent Nepali exports to India.

In 1995, Nepal joined the seven-member South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and has ratified SAARC's South Asia Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA). Under SAPTA, members have agreed to about 5000 tariff reductions among two or more of the members. However, plans to establish a free trade area by 2002 have been delayed.

Nepal has applied for accession to the World Trade Organization and submitted the required memorandum on its foreign trade regime in June 1998. The first meeting of the Working Party was in May 2000 and market access negotiations began in September 2000. A second meeting of the Working Party was held in September 2002, but expectations for accession to the WTO by the end of 2002 have not been realized.

Smuggling is substantial across the Indian border, especially on lumber goods, labor, construction equipment, currency and weapons. Gold smuggling is thought to be particularly large. Official records show substantial imports of gold, but few gold exports, even though it is well known that most of the gold imports are intended for the Indian market. Recent efforts to combat smuggling appear to have at least changed the dominant mode from men driving trucks and buses to individuals, many women and children, driving bicycles.

The Customs Act of 1997 sought to simplify custom procedures, but there have been persistent complaints about the gap between policy and practice, particularly in terms of delays and arbitrary assessments. Under the program of economic reforms for FY 2002/03, the government has announced an intention to introduce a post-clearance audit as a means of reducing complaints about customs evaluation.