People with disabilities table demands for duty exemption on vehicles

AMMAN — Finance Minister Ezzeddine Kanakrieh and Jordan Customs Department Director General Abdelmajid Rahamneh on Wednesday met with people with disabilities following a protest on Tuesday against the 2019 by-law that set a limit on customs duty exemptions for their choice of vehicles.

The minister and customs department director met with a committee comprising of six people with disabilities, headed by Mutaz Junaidi, who led Tuesday’s protest and who is also the committee’s coordinator. 

During the meeting, the committee pressed their demands of increasing the engine power limit for gasoline and hybrid vehicles as it was before, and demanded removing the JD6,000 customs tax exemption cap limit. 

The committee also demanded allowing people with disabilities to exchange their exempted vehicles as well as permitting the person with disability’s family members to use the vehicle. 

The demands also included allowing people with disabilities to drive public transport vehicles like diesel-run minibuses, the fees to scrap vehicles and the subject of connecting the customs-tax-exempted vehicle to an aid salary. 

At the conclusion of the meeting, the minister promised to present feedback on their demands a week later.

The old by-law stipulated that people with physical disabilities are allowed to drive vehicles with engine power of up to 2,200cc, while also granting all people with disabilities full exemptions from customs duty when purchasing vehicles.

The new by-law allows people of all disabilities to drive gasoline vehicles of up to 1,600cc and 2,000cc for hybrid vehicles and it sets a limit on customs duty exemptions that amounts to JD6,000 while vehicles with a customs tax fee of over JD10,000 are not included in the list of exemptions.

Under the new by-law, people with disabilities can only buy vehicles with a maximum customs duty of JD10,000, of which they are exempted for JD6,000 and must pay the remaining JD4,000 out of pocket.

Moreover, the new by-law stopped allowing people with physical disabilities to drive public transportation vehicles like diesel-run minibuses.