Customs (Prohibited Import) Regulations Order No.115 of 2014

1 Interpretation

For the purposes of this Order,

alcohol  means pure alcohol or crude spirit of a strength not less than 68% by volume which has not been rendered unfit for human consumption and which can be used for making or distilling spirituous liquids; 

ammunition means ammunition for any firearm as defined in this section and includes grenades, bombs and other like missiles whether capable of use with firearms or not and also includes prohibited ammunition but does not include spears discharged from a firearm solely for the purpose of killing fish;

explosive means gunpowder, blasting powder, dynamite, nitro-glycerine, gun-cotton, fulminate of mercury and every other substance not specified, used with a view to produce an effect by explosion and includes detonators, fuse and every accessory composed of a detonating or inflammable substance used to produce explosions and includes crackers and rockets;

animal means any living stage of any member of the animal kingdom except human beings and includes arachnids, birds, crustaceans, fish, insects and reptiles and also any fertilised egg or ovum;

animal product means any part of the animal including the flesh, wool, hair, skin, hide, bones, horns, hooves, feathers, and other portions of the carcass and viscera, blood, milk, fluids, semen, excreta and any product that is wholly or partly derived from an animal or any part of an animal;

biological products means any substance, chemical, organism or micro-organism having a biological effect on animals or their products, and includes drugs, medicines and remedies, hormones, growth promotants and antibiotics and any protozoa, fungi, bacteria, viruses or parasites capable of causing any disease in animals (or if dead was so capable when living);

description and presentation with which wine is sold, exported or imported means a reference to all names (including business names) or other descriptions, references (including addresses), signs, designs and trade marks used to distinguish the wine and appearing:

     (a) on the container (including on the device used to seal the container or on a label affixed to the container), on any tag attached to the container or, if the container is a bottle, on the sheathing covering the neck of the bottle; or 

     (b) on protective wrappings (such as papers and straw envelopes of all kinds), cartons and cases used in the packaging of the wine or the transport of the wine; or 

     (c) in documents relating to the transport of the wine or in other commercial documents (for example, invoices or delivery notes) relating to the sale or transport of the wine; or 

     (d) in advertisements relating to the wine.

firearms means  any lethal barrelled weapon of any description from which any shot, bullet, cartridges, shells or other missile can be discharged, and includes any air weapon, any prohibited weapon, any component part of any such lethal barrelled weapon, air weapon or prohibited weapon and any accessory to any such weapon designed or adapted to diminish the noise or flash caused by firing the weapon;

geographical indication, for wine, means:

     (a) a word or expression used in the description and presentation of the wine to show the country, region or locality where the wine originated; or 

     (b) a word or expression used in the description and presentation of the wine to suggest that the wine has a particular quality, reputation or characteristic because it originated in the country, region or locality indicated by the word or expression;

motor vehicle means every vehicle driven by automotive power, combustion engine or electrical power;

obscene material means publications and any other goods including computer games, computer generated images or film which describes, depicts expresses or otherwise deals with matters of sex, drug misuse, crime, cruelty, blasphemy, violence or revolting or abhorrent phenomena in such a way that they offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by the Vanuatu community;

offensive weapon includes flick knife means any knife which has a blade which opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in or attached to the handle of the knife; 

gravity knife means any knife which has a blade which is released from the handle or sheath thereof by the force of gravity or the application of centrifugal force and which, when released, is locked in place by means of a button, spring, lever or other device; 

knuckle-duster means any solid contraption designed or adapted to be gripped in the fist and equipped with any projection or flat striking surface peculiarly adapted for causing injury to the person; 

pesticide means any substance or mixture of substances for preventing, repelling, destroying or controlling any pest, and shall include substances intended for use as an insect growth regulator, a biopesticide, a plant-growth regulator, defoliant, desiccant, or agent for thinning fruit or preventing the premature fall of fruit, and substances applied to crops either before or after harvest to protect the commodity from deterioration during storage and transport; 

plants means:

   (a) live plants or any parts thereof including seeds, tubers, bulbs, ryzomes, shoots, suckers, cuttings, grafts, flowers and fruit;

   (b) dry plants including straw, hay or fodder whether or not from packing or powder;

   (c) any other matter capable of containing organisms dangerous to cultivation including soil, compost, and manure;  

wine means an alcoholic beverage produced by the complete or partial fermentation of fresh grapes or products derived solely from fresh grapes, or both.

 2 Goods prohibited from importation

A person must not import the following goods into Vanuatu:

   (a) absinthe;

   (b) beef in any form originating from Europe as set out under the Food (Control) Act [CAP 228] (Prohibition of Beef from Europe Order No. 53 of 2001);

   (c) copra;

   (d) any obscene material as described in the Obscenity Act [CAP 73];

   (e) any offensive weapon as defined in the Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act [CAP 54]) 1969;

   (f) any ozone-depleting substances and synthetic greenhouse gases as set out in the Ozone Layer Protection Act No. 27 of 2010, including but not limited to any of the following chemicals whether alone or in a mixture:

      (i) chlorofluorocarbons;

      (ii) halons;

      (iii) carbon tetrachlorides;

      (iv) methyl chloroforms;

      (v) hydrobromofluorocarbons.

   (g) wine with a false description and presentation as provided for in the Geographical Indications (Wine) Act [CAP 269].

3  Restricted goods

(1) A person must not import the following goods into Vanuatu unless he or she has been issued a permit or license by the relevant issuing authority:

(2) Drugs listed in item (1)(e) does not include preparations carried into Vanuatu for personal use if the preparation is:

(a) for personal use; and

(b) of a reasonable amount; and

(c) accompanied by a letter from a medical practitioner from the person’s country of origin; and

(d) appropriately labelled.

Click here to visit the Ministry of Health Guidelines to Drug Donations