Govt to unveil e-commerce policy within the next two weeks
- CNL Reporter
- July 14, 2025
- Political
- E-Commerce
- 0 Comments
Sri Lanka is poised to introduce a comprehensive e-commerce policy within the next two weeks – a move aimed at resolving the widespread confusion and logistical challenges currently affecting online imports, particularly from platforms like AliExpress and Temu, Deputy Minister of Industry and Entrepreneurship Development Chathuranga Abeysinghe revealed.
Amid significant public criticism and a growing backlog of parcels at Customs, Abeysinghe stated: “For several years, Sri Lanka Customs had informally permitted e-commerce packages under 1 kg to be subjected to a flat, lower tax rate. However, this system lacked a formal legal basis.”
He said that under existing Sri Lankan law, all imports must be declared under their correct Harmonised System (HS) code with the appropriate tariff applied.
“Customs recently realised that e-commerce imports, especially through platforms like AliExpress and Temu, had increased significantly, and in many cases, the Business-to-Consumer (B2C) channel was being misused for Business-to-Business (B2B) imports,” Abeysinghe explained.
