Category: General Services

GENEVA, July 24, 2006 (AFP) – Key negotiators have made no progress as they try to bridge persistent differences and end a deadlock in the World Trade Organisation’s struggling Doha Round talks on reducing trade barriers, diplomats said Monday. Crunch talks between six major trading nations on Sunday failed to deliver the much-needed breakthrough to […]

July 22, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to form a national media policy to regulate content aired on local television channels, President Mahinda Rajapakse said Saturday, during a meeting with heads of local broadcasting stations. Rajapakse said a consultative committee will also be formed on Monday to iron out procedures and regulations that will […]

July 21, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka may still keep its duty free benefits to Europe when an EU trade deal ends in 2008, with the scheme to be extended for a further seven years. Under the Generalised System of Preferences plus (GSP+) scheme, Sri Lanka gets duty free access for exports to the European […]

July 21 (LBO) – The government is planning to amend a controversial levy on imported television programs and commercials, with concessions for English programming, a senior official said. There will be concessionary amendments to the new levy. The proposed amendments have to be approved by President Mahinda Rajapakse, R T L Weerasinghe, Senior Tax Advisor […]

July 20, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s media minister Thursday indicated that his ministry has not been consulted before a controversial tax on television stations airing foreign content, was implemented. “It is a decision under the Finance Act. We are just the implementing authority,” minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa told reporters. From July 16, all television […]

July 20, 2006 (LBO) – Top multinationals like Unilever have pulled out imported advertising on local television stations, after all foreign commercials were slapped with a one million rupee tax. With effect from July, all broadcasts of foreign television commercials are taxed at one million rupees a year, per ad, per language of broadcast and […]

July 20, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s treasury secretary is to give a ruling on Friday over the controversial tax slapped on television stations airing English content, following a meeting with broadcasters late Thursday. The tax, which also applies to Hindi language content, largely affects English language viewers who account for around 5-percent of total […]

July 20 (LBO) – The British High Commission Thursday warned Sri Lankans of being duped by lottery scams, especially if asked for money or personal bank details to claim winnings. The British High Commission says it gets letters from many Sri Lankans who have received authentic looking letters claiming they have won prizes in UK […]

July 16, 2006 (LBO) – Sri Lanka™s private television stations said Sunday that they will be forced to stop broadcasting Hollywood blockbusters and serials following a controversial film tax that kicked in today. “Regrettably we will be forced to restrict our programmes and suspend popular dramas from tomorrow (Monday) if we don’t get a favourable […]

July 14, 2006 (LBO) – The local cinema industry is trying to get a 15 percent Value Added Tax (VAT) on theatre tickets lifted from August, top officials said Friday. The government has agreed in principle to exempt theatre tickets from VAT, from August 1, and we have to now prepare a Cabinet memorandum to […]

July 13, 2006 (LBO) – A new Sri Lankan satellite channel took wing Thursday, with plans to tap into a captive market of customers who lost out to the recent shut down of local cable operators. The first test transmission is to take place before the end of July, after which it will be rolled […]

July 11 (LBO) – A tariff cut of up to 70 percent on goods like cement imported under the Indo-Lanka free trade deal, has been pushed back to September due to procedural delays. This will come into effect by September this year, that is our expectation and we are trying to speed it up, N […]