In a move that will provide some important relief to the coloured gemstone trade globally, the Government of Zambia recently announced that it was suspending the export duty on coloured gemstones, and that effective January 1, 2020 these items could now be exported free.

In its official “The Customs & Excise (Precious Stones) (Export Duty) (Suspension) Order, 2019” issued on December 13, the Ministry of Finance said that goods under the Tariff Heading 71.03 would now be exempt from the existing duty. The goods covered include “Precious stones (other than diamonds) and semi-precious stones, whether or not worked or graded, but not strung, mounted or set; ungraded precious stones (other than diamonds) and semi-precious stones, temporarily strung for convenience of transport", the notification said.

It may be recalled that last month, while announcing the results of its auction of Kagem emeralds, Gemfields had expressed concerns about the tax burden the company faced in Zambia being “crippling for any business”.

Gemfields had then noted that there were “both 15% export duty and 6% mineral royalty tax” and that the “6% mineral royalty tax itself is then again taxed at the corporation tax rate of 30%”, with a separate tax on company profits as well.