A Sri Lankan court on Friday ordered the island nation’s customs department to expedite an engine capacity probe on Chinese BYD electric vehicles (EV).
The case is based on the allegation that a lower motor power has been declared for the cars — from the actual 150 kW to 100 kW — to pay a lower customs tariff.
The Appeal Court ordered the Sri Lanka Customs to expedite the probe, ruling that it was important to ensure benefits for both the importer and the buyers.
The customs tariff applicable to the 150 MW motor is SLR 4 million more than for the 100 MW motor.
The official importer John Keells CG has denied the charge.
At the hearing, the importer objected to the technical committee appointed by the Customs to verify the correct motor capacity, alleging it was partial.
The court held that it does not hold jurisdiction over the investigation committee; however, the importer could challenge its findings.
Since July, Customs have been holding at least three shipments of BYD EVs numbering over 2,000 units.
In early August, the court settlement was for Customs to release 991 cars subject to the furnishing of a bank guarantee by the importer.
Sri Lanka stopped car imports due to forex shortages on account of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis of 2022. It recommenced imports in February this year.
Since then, BYD has emerged as the top seller for both electric cars and SUVs.
However, with the ongoing dispute, the importer began the switch to import plug-in hybrid cars over EVs in late September.
