Any imported vehicles that are 15 years and over will be confiscated and impounded by Customs.
This has been confirmed by the Customs department.
The policy has been brought to light after a local man approached BCN yesterday informing us that Customs Niue has confiscated and impounded his vehicle which just came off the boat two days ago.
According to the man there were three vehicles that were impounded by Customs officials.
BCN News contacted Customs and it was confirmed that Customs officials did impound the vehicles because the imported vehicles were more than 15 years old. According to Customs, there is a long standing Cabinet policy on the importation of vehicles to the island. The policy specifies that any vehicles 15 years and should not be imported to the island.
The complainant though said that he was not aware of this Policy and he wants to know what will happen to his vehicle.
Customs officials said that the authority to decide on what happens to these impounded vehicles is with the Controller of Customs the Financial Secretary of Government.