• Trade Dept. confirms LCs opened in third countries behind current port delays
• Administrative solution or gazette amendment under discussion
• No timeline confirmed yet for resolving vehicle clearance issue
• Importers cite contradictions between Sinhala, English gazette versions

The Government is currently deliberating potential solutions to address the issue of hundreds of vehicles imported under cross-border Letters of Credit (LCs) that remain stranded at ports, according to the Department of Trade and Investment Policies.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Department of Trade and Investment Policies Director General M.K. Pradeep Kumara revealed that the vehicles reported as being stranded at the ports remained so because the relevant LCs had been opened through banks located in third countries, rather than in the respective exporting countries.

He further revealed that they were evaluating whether the vehicles presently held at ports could be released through an administrative solution or whether an amendment to the relevant gazette notification would be required.

“There are some discussions going on. I can’t confirm whether we will be amending the gazette or not,” he stated.

The Director General declined to comment on a possible timeline for the resolution of the issue.

In recent weeks, considerable public attention has been drawn to the issue of hundreds of vehicles being stranded at the port, stemming from the contentious interpretation of Extraordinary Gazette No.1804/17.

The present impasse stems from Sri Lanka Customs’ sudden enforcement of a clause in the aforesaid English version of the 2013 gazette notification, which purportedly requires import documents to be stamped by a corresponding bank in the export country and not from a bank in a third country.

However, vehicle importers have argued that this interpretation contradicts the Sinhala version of the gazette, which refers more broadly to the “exporting agent’s bank” without such a geographic restriction.