Customs reform must confront dangerous concentration of power

Tuesday, 5 August 2025 00:04 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Under Sri Lanka’s outdated Customs Ordinance, the Department of Customs holds unchecked power — acting as investigator, prosecutor, judge, and jury in its own cases. This framework, a colonial relic, violates the basic principles of natural justice and leaves room for arbitrary enforcement and selective targeting.

Customs officers can seize goods, determine violations, impose penalties, and conduct inquiries — all without independent oversight. Businesses have little recourse when faced with unfair treatment, and appeals are often futile given the lack of genuine separation of powers within the enforcement regime.

What’s worse, repeated attempts at legal reform have been thwarted by Customs unions and vested interests, who benefit from maintaining the status quo. For some, this concentration of authority has become a mechanism for accumulating personal wealth at the expense of honest traders.

This is not just a matter of bureaucratic inefficiency. It is a serious governance failure that deters investment, encourages corruption, and undermines the rule of law.

Governments have promised Customs modernisation. Yet, will any administration have the courage to take on entrenched interests and deliver real reform? That means:

Creating independent adjudicative bodies to review seizures and penalties;
Enforcing transparency in Customs inquiries;

nAnd rewriting the law to ensure officers no longer operate as judge and jury in their own cause.

For too long, policy has been captured by those who benefit from disorder. If Sri Lanka is serious about becoming a hub for trade and investment, reforming the Customs Ordinance is not optional — it is urgent.

The time to act is now. So — will the Government “have the guts” to act?