Customs and Excise (Printing and Packaging) (Suspension) Regulations, 2026

This is S.I. 31 of 2026 republished with corrections, so it is the version to work from. It suspends customs duty on the printing and packaging inputs listed in its Second Schedule — kraft paper and paperboard, coated and self-adhesive papers, polypropylene, bolting cloth, backed aluminium foil, and printing plates and cylinders among them — when imported or taken out of bond by a registered manufacturer for making printing and packaging products. It takes effect from 1 January 2026.

Forty-nine manufacturers are approved in the Third Schedule, including Zimpapers, Natprint, Hunyani, Celsys, Mambo Press, Fidelity Printers & Refiners, Mega Pak and Treger Plastics. Anyone not listed must apply to the proper officer on the First Schedule form before importing or removing anything from bond, must be registered with ZIMRA with a valid tax clearance certificate, and will have their premises and machinery inspected before the Commissioner decides.

Approval carries conditions: secure stores on the premises that can be closed with customs locks, a bond with sufficient surety in an amount the Commissioner sets, and the registration fee prescribed under section 173 of the Customs and Excise (General) Regulations, 2001. Registration approved after 30 June in any year attracts half the fee, and renewal is due annually by 31 January.

The running obligations mirror the clothing manufacturers' suspension gazetted in the same period. Suspended materials may be stored only in the locked stores; a stock-book approved by the Commissioner must account for all receipts and disposals; and the facility carries a transparency and accountability requirement — an annual report to the Minister on what the suspension delivered. Registration may be cancelled where a manufacturer stops manufacturing, breaches the regulations or fails to renew, and the Commissioner may reject an application where adequate control of the materials is unlikely.