Customs and Excise (Designated Deemed Smuggled Goods)

These regulations designate nineteen categories of commercial goods for the purposes of section 223A of the Customs and Excise Act, and they are deemed to take effect from 28 November 2024 — before the date they were gazetted.

The rule they carry is blunt. Any manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer or individual found in possession of the designated goods who fails to furnish the Commissioner, or an officer authorised by the Commissioner, with authentic documentary evidence that duty has been properly accounted for is deemed to have smuggled those goods, and is liable for the duty on them plus applicable penalties. The burden is on the holder to produce the paperwork, not on ZIMRA to prove the goods were smuggled.

The designated goods are: alcoholic beverages, non-alcoholic beverages, cement, clothing, footwear, dairy products, diapers, electrical appliances, cables and accessories, ploughs and parts, processed meat, rice, pasta, sugar, tyres, motor spares, washing powder and detergents, biscuits, sweets, and laundry and bath soaps. That list covers most of what a general dealer or supermarket stocks, so the practical effect is a documentation requirement across ordinary retail and wholesale trade.

Consumers are explicitly protected. Section 4 states for the avoidance of doubt that no customer shall be required to produce proof of payment of duty on imported goods bought from a local manufacturer, wholesaler or retailer. The responsibility sits with whoever imported the goods, or with the manufacturer using imported inputs, or the wholesaler or retailer selling them.

Traders should be able to produce clearance documents on demand for anything on the list, including stock bought locally, since being unable to do so converts a stock-holding into a deemed smuggling liability.