Egypt Customs Import and Export Policy

Customs Management Regulations

[Legal System] The Customs Law is the main law for Egypt's customs management. The Egyptian government promulgated the Customs Law (Law No. 66) in 1963 and implemented the Tariff Exemption Law (Law No. 186) in 1986. In 2020, the two laws were integrated and revised to implement the new Customs Law (Law No. 207)2. The new law aims to encourage foreign investment, reduce and simplify international trade and customs clearance process rules, promote the standardization of customs clearance procedures, and improve the efficiency of customs duty refund links. In addition, the new law also clarifies the penalties for illegal acts and requires the implementation of a post-clearance audit process.

The Egyptian Ministry of Finance is the tariff policy-making agency, and its subordinate General Administration of Customs is the tariff policy implementation agency. The General Administration of Customs has a Tariff High Council, whose main task is to discuss and formulate corresponding tariff rates and implementation plans according to the needs of the country's political and economic development. Egypt Customs adopts the internationally common "Harmonized Customs Tariff System". In the formulation of tariffs, the government also considers different policies to encourage the development of domestic industries and protect emerging industries. In April 2008, Egypt joined the Kyoto Convention, which promoted the alignment of Egypt's customs clearance procedures with the standards of the World Customs Organization. In November 2009, the customs of China and Egypt signed the Agreement on Customs Administrative Mutual Assistance.

[[Main revisions to the new Customs Law]] Implement a national unified window system to improve the convenience of customs procedures; respond to corporate questions through a pre-query system; goods purchased through e-commerce channels must comply with the provisions of the E-commerce Law; stipulate situations where owed tariffs can be exempted; introduce a risk management system in customs procedures; incorporate tax exemption rules; temporary entry and tax refund business are under the unified responsibility of the customs; temporary entry goods must be re-exported within one and a half years from the date of release, and the time can be extended but not more than one year if conditions are met; the customs is responsible for supervising intellectual property rights related to the goods; for machines, equipment and devices used for operation or leasing in the country, temporary release shall be subject to a tariff rate of 2% per month or part of the month, with a maximum annual rate of no more than 20%; increase penalties for violations; customs documents must be kept for five years.