Belizean Government Standardizes Diesel Import Fees to Ensure Fair Market

The Government of Belize has implemented changes that will see importers of diesel and biodiesel pay a standard fee. At Friday’s sitting of the House of Representatives, a new piece of legislation was passed that will standardize the importation tax for all types of diesel fuel. Previously, importers of biodiesel paid significantly less than other importers of the fuel, which created an unlevel playing field. Prime Minister John Briceno says the new law will ensure equity across the board for importers and remove the government’s need to test imported biodiesel. 

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “The practical effect is that all diesels are going to be paying the same tax because somebody could be bringing real diesel and say it’s biodiesel and they have no way of knowing that. You would have to take that, I’m told that it has to be sent to El Salvador to be able to test. We don’t have to test here. So for practical reasons, it just means that any fuel that’s called diesel will have to pay the same tax.”

Reporter: As opposed to differentiated ?

John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize: “Yes, because the biodiesel, I think, was not paying no excise duty so they had a big disadvantage over in this case, PUMA that has an established network and services that they’ve been providing to this.” 

The bill was introduced and went through all readings on Friday.