Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – After an article in Mizzima, the Rail Transportation Ministry has revoked the order requiring passengers to pay a special tax before carrying a laptop, cameras and other electronic devices on trains, Aung Khin, the Naypyitaw Station Chief, told Mizzima.
After Mizzima reported on April 22 that a person taking a laptop on a train without paying a special tax could be fined, officials from the Rail Transportation Ministry decided to revoke the order, Aung Khin said.
‘Last week the ministry gave me instructions to revoke the previous order’, he said. ‘After the news was reported in an exiled media, we had serious repercussions’. The order came six days after the Mizzimaarticle.
The order only effects computers, cameras and other electronic devices for personal use. If computers or other electronic devices are being transported for sale, a special tax is required at the freight office, officials said. The law was imposed in 1999.
Recently, a person, who paid a US $2.40 fine in early April published the receipt for the fine on a Facebook account.
Rescinding the tax was the first change at the Rail Transportation Ministry under the new government, an official from the Rail Transportation Department said.
A new rate for railroad freight charges will be submitted to Parliament, officials said. Current freight charges are 36 kyat (US $0.04) per viss (1 viss = 1.6 kg) for a passenger train and 24 kyat ($0.03 ) per viss for a freight train.
