• Services segment to be addressed at a later stage
• Dedicated committee appointed to draft policy
• Decision on taxing e-commerce goods pending committee work completion

Sri Lanka is set to introduce an e-commerce policy focused initially on goods, while the more complex area of e-commerce services will be addressed at a later stage, according to the Department of Trade and Investment Policies.

Speaking to The Sunday Morning Business, Department of Trade and Investment Policies Director General I.J. Abeyratne revealed that following the removal of the de minimis rule for e-commerce last year, a dedicated committee had been appointed to prepare an e-commerce policy for Sri Lanka.

Accordingly, she stated that the Government’s final decision on how to tax e-commerce goods would be made only after the committee completed its work and published the e-commerce policy.

Commenting on the scope of the policy, she said that the e-commerce policy being formulated by the committee would not address e-commerce services at this stage.

Abeyratne further revealed that although the proposed e-commerce policy had initially been intended to cover both goods and services, it had subsequently been decided to limit the policy to goods in the first phase before moving forward to address services, given that the latter were considerably more complex.

The Director General stated that this course of action was also supported by the parliamentary Committee on Ways and Means following discussions.

“Previously, there was no intention of limiting the e-commerce policy solely to goods, but now it has been decided it will be limited only to goods. Even the parliamentary Ways and Means Committee recommended this during discussions. The suggestion was for it to be limited to goods for the time being, and to move forward with services later, because the latter are far more complex,” she stated.

Clarifying what was meant by e-commerce services, Abeyratne indicated that this would encompass online platforms, payment systems, and payment gateways, along with other services provided through online channels, including entertainment services.

She added that the policy would need to be developed and discussed with the public and chambers, indicating that there was still a long way to go before finalisation.

Responding to queries regarding a possible timeline for its introduction, she revealed that the work relating to the draft of the e-commerce policy was still ongoing and would take some time.

Abeyratne stated that while a timeline had originally existed, the process had proven more challenging than anticipated, as the full scope of the exercise had only become evident once the challenges involved had been examined in detail.