AMMAN -- The Jordan Customs Department (JCD) on Monday exempted people with dwarfism from customs duties and taxes imposed on vehicles.
JCD Director Ghaleb Sarayreh told The Jordan Times yesterday that the decision is in accordance with regulations exempting persons with disabilities (PWD) from customs duties.
He explained that in order to be eligible to benefit from the exemption the height of vertically challenged males should not exceed 131 centimetres, while females should not exceed 121 centimetres, which is in accordance with the definition of the World Health Organisation.
Stating that the decision went into effect as of yesterday, Sarayreh noted that beneficiaries should hold a valid seventh category driving licence, which is specific to PWD.
There are around 286 persons with dwarfism in the Kingdom.
Last year, activists urged public agencies to provide persons with dwarfism the same facilities and advantages as PWD.
At the time, Fawziya Sabaa, director of the department of PWD affairs at the Ministry of Social Development, told The Jordan Times that people afflicted with dwarfism in Jordan lacked their basic rights to have medical insurance or benefit from customs exemptions on cars similar to their disabled peers.
Article 4 of the 2007 Law for the Rights of People with Disabilities entitles the disabled, as well as public and private organisations caring for their welfare, to an exemption of customs duties and sales tax on several items.
© Jordan Times 2011
