Sri Lanka, Nov. 6 -- Sri Lankan lawmakers raised concerns over potential market favouritism and duopolistic exploitation after the government moved to impose technical import barriers on tyres without studying market shares or domestic production capacity.

Lawmakers questioned officials during proceedings of the Committee on Public Finance over Gazette No. 2508/27, which mandates SLS certification on imported car and three-wheeler tyres from January 2027.

Opposition lawmaker Shanakiyan Rasamanickam warned that the sudden regulation, combined with a lack of state testing facilities, risked handing an unfair market windfall to one or two dominant local manufacturers under the guise of quality control.

The Ministry of Industry stated that...