Tabaco — Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka no publica ninguna franquicia de tabaco libre de impuestos para viajeros: la lista oficial de artículos permitidos en el equipaje detalla cantidades de vino, cerveza y licores, pero no incluye cigarrillos, puros ni tabaco. Dé por hecho que tendrá que declarar y pagar impuestos por cualquier tabaco que lleve. Además, fumar en cualquier lugar público cerrado es un delito castigado con multa, prisión o ambas.

Original (EN): Sri Lanka publishes no duty-free tobacco allowance for arriving travellers. The official permissible-baggage schedule gives quantities for wine, beer and spirits but has no entry at all for cigarettes, cigars or tobacco — assume anything you carry is taxable and declarable. Separately, smoking in any enclosed public place is a criminal offence carrying a fine, prison, or both.

TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF CONSEQUENCE. Smoking in an enclosed public place is a genuine penal offence: NATA Act s.39(4) — on conviction after summary trial before a Magistrate, "a fine not exceeding two thousand rupees or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or to both such fine and imprisonment." Carrying tobacco through customs is by contrast a TAX consequence, not a penalty: no allowance is published, so duty, Ports & Airports Levy and Excise are assessed at normal tariff rates. A knowingly false declaration is separately actionable under the Customs Ordinance.