Description
A certificate of incentives, Tanzanian Investment Centre, agreement between the Government and an investor, Involvement of the Attorney General in making of the certificate of incentives, Appeals on tax matters, legal points only, compliance with the Public Service Standing Order, administrative law, section 19(2) of the Tanzania Investment Act, during five years of the certificate, create predictable investment climate, promoting capital investment, section 20 of the Tanzania Investment Act, strategic and major investors, A law affecting substantive rights, operate retrospectively, Finance Act, retrospectively affect a certificate of incentives, implementation of a pre-existing project, section 17(1) of the Tanzania Investment Act, Computation of the five years period protected under section 17(2) of the Tanzania Investment Act, the Customs Tariff Act, 1976 (CTA), the Customs (Management and Tariff) Act, [Cap. 203 R.E. 2019] (CMCTA), the East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004 (EACCMA), import duty exemption, deemed capital goods, holder of a certificate of incentive under the Tanzania Investment Act.
i) A certificate of incentives issued by the Tanzanian Investment Centre is an agreement between the Government and an investor, p. 12.
ii) Involvement of the Attorney General in making of the certificate of incentives for investment is a factual issue, p. 12.
iii) Appeals to the Court of Appeal on tax matters should be confined to legal points only, p. 12.
iv) The question of compliance with the Public Service Standing Order in the making of a certificate of incentive (for investments under the TIC) is an administrative and management affair within the Government which would perhaps fall under the domain of administrative law, pp. 12 – 13. It cannot be resolved by having a look at the certificate itself in isolation of other relevant information within the knowledge of the appellant and the TIC itself, p. 13.
v) Under section 19(2) of the Tanzania Investment Act, the benefits granted in a certificate of incentive to an investor can neither be amended nor modified during five years of the certificate at the detriment of the investor. The rationale behind is “to create predictable investment climate” which is necessary in promoting capital investment, p. 15.
vi) The benefits introduced under section 20 of the Tanzania Investment Act for strategic and major investors were, until 2013, merely additional and not derogatory to those created under section 19(1) and (2) of the Tanzania Investment Act, p. 18.
vii) A law affecting substantive rights does not operate retrospectively unless it is expressed in the amending law, p. 15.
viii) Whether an amendment introduced by the Finance Act which came into force in July, 2013 could retrospectively affect a certificate of incentives that was issued in March 2013 for purposes of extending an implementation of a pre-existing project – it was held that the said amendment did not operate retrospectively as to affect the benefits attached to the said certificate under section 17(1) of the Tanzania Investment Act , p. 22.
ix) Computation of the five years period protected under section 17(2) of the Tanzania Investment Act.
x) As the Customs Tariff Act, 1976 (CTA) which has been consolidated with the Customs (Management and Tariff) Act, [Cap. 203 R.E. 2019] (CMCTA), has never been repealed and because the East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004 (EACCMA) does not have any provision relating to import duty exemption in respect to deemed capital goods by a holder of a certificate of incentive under the Tanzania Investment Act, the certificate of incentive in question was not invalid as alleged by the appellant’s counsel, pp. 23 – 24.
