The MVDA challenging the exemption for importers and sellers of reconditioned cars avoiding them to produce this specific certificate to the customs. They stressed that obtaining such a document is one of the requirements for the importation of cars.
They has initiated an action in the Supreme Court against the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) and its Director General, the Minister, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Consumer Protection, the Minister and the Department Finance and the Financial Secretary.
In a notice prepared by the attorney Me Jaykar Gujadhur, Mrinal Kanti Teelock, Executive Secretary of the MVDA says that the case was called on 28 November 2012. That day, the MRA and the Ministry of Industry had pledged that the clearance of reconditioned cars will be made in accordance with the provisions of the law. It was therefore agreed that these cars, which are not provided with a certificate of carbon gas Un/ECE/101 type can not be cleared.
Mrinal Kanti Teelock argued that the Department of Finance was also keen to ensure MVDA, to the effect that the requirements of the carbon tax will be followed to the letter and that the measures will be implemented on April 6: " Following forceful representations with documentary evidence made by the representatives of MVDA at the aforesaid meeting by letter dated 5th April 2013, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, as a matter of policy, decided that as from the 6th day of April 2013, the following CO2 measurements would apply for the importation of second hand cars. "
Reconditioned cars, according to the Executive Secretary of the MVDA, should be fitted with a type certificate UN/ECE/101 or certificate issued by the Singapore Land Transport Authority or a certificate of Vehicle Certificate Agency Britain, from April 6 to meet the criteria of customs.
However, Mrinal Kanti Teelock adds that this has not been put into practice so far. And noted that the Ministry of Finance authorized in a statement issued on April 8, the clearance of reconditioned vehicles stuck at customs because of their non-compliance on the certificate indicating the carbon gas.
The Executive Secretary of the MVDA asserts that the authorities have violated the commitments made by the MRA and the Ministry of Industry in the Supreme Court.
The MVDA also believes that the authorities are obliged to enforce the law. "The optometrist must MVDA states are bound to enforce the law as regards the CO2 emission certificate UN/ECE/101 as per the Excise Act as amended for all importers of motorcars into Mauritius," reads the notice. It thus calls for the freezing of the decision.
