Textile importers and retailers without the Ghana textile tax stamp will from January next year face a five-year-jail team or be compelled to pay three times the importation cost of the textiles.
According to a Deputy Minister in charge of Industries, Robert Ahomka-Lindsey, the textiles tax stamps is aimed at checking the influx of counterfeit products and to ensure tax compliance within the textiles industry.
He said the textile tax stamp implementation is part of efforts by the government to revamp the textiles industry which hitherto employed over 30,000 Ghanaians in the 1980s.
Mr. Ahomka Lindsay, at a town hall sensitization and education meeting in Tamale, revealed that in 2017, only a container loaded with textile was cleared at the port meanwhile, 70 percent of textile products in Ghana are imported. He therefore stated that the Ghana textile tax stamp, will gives buyers the confidence and assurance of buying genuine fabrics.
An anti-piracy task force is being constituted to begin work in November 2018, to undertake monitoring and education in all markets across Ghana and also provide stamps for existing inventory of textiles in the market.
The deputy Trades Minister also explained the features on the textiles tax stamp and how it will work.
Stakeholders lauded government for the textiles stamp initiative and the efforts to protect their businesses.
