Stakeholders in the Bottled Water industry have indicated that legal action could be initiated if there is no change in stance by the interim government regarding the new export and excise duty imposed on bottled water.
Spokesperson for the ten water bottling companies, Island Chill Director Jay Dayal said this step may have to be taken to ensure the future sustainability of the industry.
The water bottlers said they are concerned that the Ministry of Finance is again taking exceptionally poor advice to levy a 20 cents per litre excise duty for domestic consumption of mineral water and 20 cents per litre as export duty on bottled water, in a misguided effort to reduce the country's budget shortfall, and to supposedly protect water resources in Fiji.
The ten water bottling companies including Fiji Water, Island Chill, Aqua Pacific and Tappoos Beverage said water from their sources is a completely renewable resource that is constantly replenished by abundant rainfall each year.
The companies said to the best of their knowledge there is no precedent in the world for a product in the water industry to be slapped with this kind of duty and in fact most every other nation encourages exports of this kind with generous incentives.
It said by way of comparison, the carbonated soft drink industry in Fiji is only subjected to a 3 cents per litre excise tax and no export duty.
However, Interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry earlier stressed that the water bottle companies are free to increase their prices to cushion the burdens of the increased taxes.
The two parties meet this morning to find a solution to the standoff as all sale of bottled water by the ten companies remains suspended.
