April 2, 2008
In a bid to promote tourism and commerce, Ministry of Finance (MOF) is currently looking into creating regulations for the establishment of duty-free stores on Taiwan's offshore islands, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu.
Duty-free stores on Taiwan's offshore islands could create up to
NTD 200 million in business opportunities, said the MOF. For the moment, businesses on the outlying islands interested in starting a duty-free store would be required to have capital of
NTD 50 million. But this regulation could be relaxed in the future, said the ministry.
The opportunity to develop duty-free stores on the outlying islands came with the addition of Article 10-1 to the Statute on Off-shore Islands Development, which allows Penghu, Jinmen, and Mazu to establish duty-free businesses.
Under the MOF regulations, residents of the offshore islands and visitors traveling by plane to and from the islands would be able to purchase up to
NTD 20,000 in goods at duty-free stores, according to the MOF. Shoppers would present their plane tickets and identification documents to be allowed to make purchases at the stores.
The MOF is also requesting that the offshore island duty-free stores limit their products to cigarettes and alcohol and luxury items such as cosmetics, leather wallets, and watches. This would be done to prevent conflicts with shops that sell local specialty products, as well as normal sundries.
(Economic Daily News)
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