Kuwait Pauses 100% E-Cigarette Customs Duty Tax

The government has decided to defer the application of a 100 percent customs duty tax on e-cigarettes – including flavored products – until further notice. The tax was supposed to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023 after being postponed from Sept. 1 of this year, reports Al- Anba daily, as reported by the Arab Times.

“The Acting Director General of the General Administration of Customs, Suleiman Al-Fahd, according to a local Arabic daily, has issued instructions regarding postponing the application of single-use cartridges containing nicotine and packages of liquids or gels containing nicotine, whether flavored or unflavored, and packages of liquids or gels containing nicotine from the 100 percent customs tax,” the story states.

Al-Fahd had previously issued customs instructions to postpone the imposition of 100 percent tax on electronic cigarettes and their liquids, whether with or without flavor, for a period of 4 months, specifically, but according to the instructions, it is decided to postpone the tax application on four items until further notice.”

The list of the four items includes – the flavored single-use nicotine cartridges; unflavored disposable nicotine cartridges; liquid or gel packs containing flavored nicotine and liquid or gel containers containing unflavored nicotine.

The instructions come in addition to other Customs Instructions No. 19 of 2022 issued in Feb. 2022 regarding the application of what was introduced in the Main Clause 2404 of Chapter 24 of the unified customs tariff system for the GCC countries by subjecting cartridges containing single-use nicotine flavored, unflavored and packages of liquids or gels containing flavored or unflavored nicotine for a 100 percent customs duty.