Nepal

Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has issued a directive to promptly address the complaint about mobile phone sets brought for personal use while returning Nepal from abroad. 

The Prime Minister's directive comes in response to a complaint from the citizen level. He had also issued a similar instruction related to the mobile phone set brought for personal use from abroad before this. 

Despite the earlier instruction from the head of the government regarding the smartphone sets brought for personal use, a customs employee at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) was reported to have prevented a Nepali returning from the United States from passing the checking with the additional set.  

According to Prime Minister’s Press Coordinator Surya Kiran Sharma, the Prime Minister on Tuesday again directed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Bishnu Poudel to make necessary provisions. 

“In response to public concerns and complaints over the news report that the custom employee at TIA barred the Nepali from the US to pass with an additional phone set on Monday, the Prime Minister has directed the Ministry of Finance to promptly address the issue,” Sharma said. 

The Prime Minister has sought to address any legal and policy-level issues regarding easing the process of bringing two mobile phone sets by any Nepali returned from aboard.   

Earlier, the Finance Ministry had decided to impose up to 18 per cent excise duty on the import of an additional mobile phone set for personal use by a Nepali while coming home from abroad.  The decision sparked widespread protest and criticism. The decision followed the Nepal

Telecommunications Authority's (NTA) move to implement the mobile device management system last Friday. The implementation of MDMS, which was said to be for discouraging the grey market of smartphones, was suspended following the Prime Minister’s directions a few days ago.

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