The Board of Investment of Sri Lanka, structured to function as the central facilitation point for investors, is also responsible for permitting Imports and Exports of projects under section 17 of the BOI law as well as providing other investor related services. These facilities are provided by the Investor Services Department of the BOI. If you are looking for information regarding investing in Sri Lanka please contact, the Investor Facilitation Center.
As an investor, undoubtedly you will be interested in finding out the procedure pertaining to investor related activities handled by this Department. To provide the above-mentioned services, the BOI has Investor Service Centers located at;
After signing the agreement with the BOI, to obtain the relevant services from one of the above centres, you should first register with the respective Investor Service Centre.
The relevant application form 45/FO/IS/31 could be downloaded for this purpose.
After registration with the IS Department you are also required to register with the ADP Unit of Sri Lanka Customs as per the FORM FOR THE REGISTRATION OF IMPORTERS & EXPORTERS IN TERMS OF SECTION 115 OF THE CUSTOMS ORDINANCE. You are required to register as a declarant with Sri Lanka Customs if you propose to affect your own Imports/Exports without utilizing the services of a clearing agent using the URL below.
Once registered with the Investor services Department, you are eligible to obtain services as per the agreement signed with the BOI.
In line with the ASYCUDAWORLD system, registration in the Investor Services Department under Import Export Monitoring System (IEMS) for the purpose of payment of BOI service charges for import/export and other services is requested.
Also you are required to open a prepaid account with the Investor Services Department of BOI, by you or your clearing agent (Declarant) for the purposes given below.
BOI Enterprises are permitted to export their finished products on Duty Free basis, as approved by the agreement entered into with the BOI
Enterprises should obtain the Certificate of Conformity (COC) from the Engineering Approvals Department/Regional Office or the respective Zone office before effecting the first export. The relevant application form 45/FO/IS/35 could be downloaded from the Website.
Request for exports should be made under Cusdec declaration I and II and submitted to the relevant BOI Service Centre for approval.
| Air freight / Sea freight | 02 copies of CUSDECs (Security copy & BOI copy) 02 copies of Commercial Invoices |
Export Cess should be paid for applicable items at the rates specific to the relevant HS code, specified under the customs tariff
BOI also permits temporary export of the following items
You should make a request to the relevant service centre for approval on submission of the re-export/temporary export application. The respective form is 45/FO/IS/05 and could be downloaded from the BOI website.
Export documents should be submitted electronically through ASYWORLD using the DTI (Direct Trader Input) facility.
VerificationIn addition to the Central Verification Terminal (Orugodawatta) and Air Cargo Terminal (Katunayake), BOI has several other centres for verification of import / export cargo by enterprises, located in the following Export Processing Zones.
BOI has several centres for examination of import / export cargo by enterprises, including the following Free Trade Zones.
All enterprises located in the above Export Processing Zones can get their cargo verified at the respective zone in which the company is located. The company should register import or export documents after payment of verification charges at the said verification unit and a verification officer will be assigned for verification of cargo at the factory. Enterprises located close to KEPZ, BEPZ, Koggala EPZ, Kandy Industrial Park and MAS Fabric Part can also avail themselves of this facility. Only a random verification will be effected and in the event a shortage or excess of imported cargo is detected after cargo is taken to factory premises, the Enterprise should inform the respective service centre within 01 week of clearance of cargo.
The BOI has two verification terminals to cater to the requirements of enterprises located outside the Export Processing Zones, namely CVT – Orugodawatta and ACTU – Katunayake
Central Verification Terminal at Orugodawatta has been established to verify Sea Freight, Import / Export cargo of enterprises obtaining services from the Colombo Service Centre. This unit is open 24 hours of the day and offers a specialized service to its customers. Enterprises are requested to pay the relevant verification charges and register details of cargo at the unit for verification.
Air Cargo Terminal located at Katunayake has been established to verify Air Freight Import / Export cargo. This office is also open 24 hours of the day and BOI enterprises can obtain services by making online payment of service charges and registration of the cargo.
Enterprises should produce cargo for verification either to the CVT, ACT or the respective EPZ no sooner it is cleared from the port or airport. Enterprises should also ensure that cargo declared on the import and export cusecs have been physically imported and exported. Discrepancies of any nature should be identified and the respective service centres should be kept informed within 01 week of clearance or loading.