The Water Bottling companies in the country maintain that they will not pay any compensation to the government to bottle mineral water.
As negotiations are now expected to start between the bottling companies and FIRCA, spokesperson for the ten companies, Island Chill Director Jay Dayal said the Bottlers have made their stance known from the outset that they will not agree to pay any compensation.
The 20 cents per liter export duty and 20 cents per liter excise duty on mineral water have been officially revoked after a special sitting of Cabinet this morning.
In a statement, Interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry said as per the agreement the water bottling companies are to discontinue legal proceedings they intended to take in the matter.
The interim government has directed FIRCA to commence discussions with the water bottling companies regarding the appropriate level of compensation to be paid to the government by the various companies for the bottling of water.
The compensation will be based on the global benchmark and financial circumstances surrounding the bottled water companies.
FIRCA CEO Jitoko Tikolevu is currently in a meeting and is expected to comment later.
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Bottlers Will Not Pay Compensation
