The Parliament's Committee of the Whole House has approved the Bill on Amendment to the Maldives Export Import Act, which proposes reducing import duty on selected tobacco products and removing duty on smoking cessation products.

The bill, submitted on behalf of the Government by Komandoo MP Mohamed Ibrahim, proposes reducing the import duty on cigarettes from MVR 8 to MVR 4 per cigarette. The same reduction would also apply to bidis and heated tobacco products.

The proposed amendments also seek to exempt nicotine replacement products, including nicotine chewing gum, nicotine patches and similar smoking cessation products, from import duty.

The Government states that the proposed amendments are intended to encourage smoking cessation while reducing import duty on selected tobacco products.

The bill notes that if the amendments come into effect on 1 July, import duty revenue for this year is expected to decrease by an estimated MVR 21 million.

Following its review, the Committee of the Whole House recommended that the bill be passed without any further amendments. The committee's recommendation was approved unanimously by the 69 members who participated in the vote.