Iraqi security personnel stand watch at a checkpoint
Iraq opens four customs offices along Kurdistan Region boundary
BAGHDAD — Iraq’s General Authority of Customs has opened four new customs offices along the boundary with the Kurdistan Region to collect differences in duties and prevent goods from entering outside federal crossings.
The offices are located at Sadd checkpoint in Nineveh, Darman and Jemen checkpoints in Kirkuk, and Baweh Mahmoud checkpoint in Sulaymaniyah.
Director General Thamer Qassim said the offices will “audit the papers and documents,” “ensure the tariff applied at the federal crossings” and “collect the tariff difference.”
He said the Kurdistan Region’s border crossings “are not automated and therefore do not adopt the tariff applied at the federal government crossings.”
Qassim said the authority is relying on advance customs declarations and the automated ASYCUDA system. “Any trader cannot bring in his goods except through the federal crossings through the automated ASYCUDA system,” he said. “Entry of any goods cannot be done except through entry via these customs offices.”
In September, the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government said they agreed to implement ASYCUDA and require companies to use a 14-digit Unified Economic Number. Officials said the step would end years of administrative disputes and place Kurdistan-based firms “under the same conditions” as those in central and southern Iraq.
Traders and customs officials have said, however, that the Kurdistan Regional Government has not yet implemented ASYCUDA, leaving differences in procedures and tariff application.
The new offices come as traders continue to protest the tariff rollout. On Feb. 10, merchants demonstrated outside the Supreme Judicial Council and urged Chief Justice Faiq Zaidan to intervene, saying higher duties have disrupted business, left goods stalled and pushed shops to close. Some pointed to changes affecting hybrid vehicles, saying they imported them under earlier exemptions and later faced duties and penalties they argue should not apply.