Ships Before Nov 15 Dodge the 50% Surcharge — Fair Rule or Importer Head Start?

Every imported vehicle has carried a 50% surcharge on the import duty since May 15, now extended to December 31. But there's a narrower deadline landing this week: if your Letter of Credit was opened on or before May 15 and hasn't been amended since, you only keep the surcharge exemption if the bill of lading shows a "shipped on board" date no later than November 15. Importers sitting on old LCs are racing shipping schedules right now to beat that cutoff; anyone opening a fresh LC today pays the full 50% on top of duty and VAT, no exceptions. Some say this closes a loophole that let old LCs get milked indefinitely for cheap stock long after the policy was meant to bite. Others say it just rewards whoever had the capital and contacts to open LCs back in May, while locking smaller importers and anyone buying from here on out of that cheaper window for good. If you ordered under an old LC, are you tracking the shipping date like a hawk right now? And if you're buying fresh after the 15th, are you bracing for prices to jump once this window shuts? මැයි 15ට කලින් LC ගත්තත්, නොවැම්බර් 15න් පස්සේ නැව්ගත කළොත් සර්චාජ් එකෙන් බේරෙන්නේ නෑ - ඔයාගේ රථය මේ දිනයට කලින් එනවද?