Import rules and regulations for Japanese used vehicles in East Timor

Japan is the name that comes to everyone’s mind when one talks about automobiles. Japanese automakers are known across the world for their reliability, efficiency and quality. Japan started with introducing small cars and with improvement in every vehicle it eventually became one of the top automobile industries in the world. With the increasing popularity of new vehicles, reputation for used vehicles also rises. People across the world import Japanese used vehicles as they get quality vehicles at reasonable rates.

Almost all countries import used vehicles from Japan and East Timor is no such exception. Even being used these vehicles possess the quality of new ones. Buying a used vehicle is actually a smart decision as one gets a fine vehicle with the price almost half as that of new ones. While importing, used vehicle importers have to make sure that they are abiding by countries import regulations.

To make sure that imported vehicles do not contain any pests and harmful insects, quarantine inspection is performed on them. Permit from the National Director of Ground Transportation is required before importing a used vehicle in the country. It is allowed to import right-hand drive vehicles in the country.

Light passenger and mixed vehicles over 5 years are prohibited to import from the date of their original manufacture to the date of import, with the following exceptions:

• Vehicles imported by returning residents who have lived outside of East- Timor for more than a year continuously, as long as the vehicle was purchased, registered and owned abroad by the importer for at least a year before being imported into East-Timor.
• Heavy passenger vehicles with over twenty seats.
• Heavy cargo vehicles, including vans and Lorries with cargo capacity over four tons, agricultural vehicles, construction vehicles and material-handling vehicles.
• Motor vehicles imported under international agreements.
• Motor vehicles imported for personal use identified as collectibles.
• Motor vehicles determined by the Directorate-General of Revenue and Customs as having public utility and donated to registered charities, in order to provide assistance to the community.

Required Documents:-

• Certificate of Title and Registration
• Original Bill of Lading
• Commercial/Purchase Invoice
• Letter of Request (Diplomats/aid workers)

Duty payable when importing a motor vehicle:-

• Import Duty: 2.5 % of the CIF value of the vehicle
• Sales Tax: 2.5% (CIF value+ Import Duty+ Excise Duty) *If the vehicle cost is more than 70,000 US
• Excise Duty: 5 % of the (CIF value + Import Duty) * If the value of the Motor vehicle is higher than $7,000

Shipping Port:-
The major shipping port in East Timor is Port of Dili. Used vehicles are generally shipped to the country through RoRo (Roll-on Roll-off) shipment method. However, if requested by customers another more safe shipment method, container method is used.