Regulations

IRC and GMP Certificate Requirements Removed for Essential Goods

Iran's Cabinet has amended its earlier resolution on using border provinces' capacity to supply essential goods and regulate the domestic market, removing the requirement to present IRC and GMP certificates for applicants importing essential goods under this route, and directing that health, standards, and quarantine testing serve as the basis for clearance instead.

Effective from
9 February 2026
Issued by
Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade
Reference
No. 7165241

Iran’s Trade Promotion Organization has notified the Center for Innovation and Smart Systems and Security of a Cabinet-approved amendment removing the requirement to present IRC (International Recognized Certificate) and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) codes for applicants seeking to import essential goods under the resolution on using border provinces’ and selected provinces’ capacity to supply essential goods needed by the country and to regulate the domestic market.

The amendment, communicated under Cabinet Resolution No. 181204/T65316H of January 18, 2026, follows an earlier Cabinet Resolution No. 154422/T65006H of November 22, 2025 on the same subject, which had required customs clearance of essential goods imports (standards, health, and quarantine licenses) to be completed within a maximum of five days in coordination with border-province governors. That earlier resolution had noted that, due to sanctions-related difficulties and origin-market problems, the requirement to present IRC and GMP certificates for applicants seeking to import goods under this resolution would, for these specific trade procedures — covering kolbari (cross-border portage), border residency, peddling, and official trade — be removed, with standard testing and health approval (from the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education’s Food and Drug Deputy) and required testing (animal and plant quarantine, and for transgenic materials, specifically for livestock feed inputs) serving as the basis for clearance instead.

Under the present amendment, Clauses 2 and 5 of the original resolution have been revised: Clause 2 now permits barter of exported goods against essential goods in accordance with the resolution’s procedures, with such imports counting as fulfillment of currency repatriation obligations, and specifies that currency needed under this clause, up to a ceiling of 300 million dollars, is funded under Note 2 of Article 5 of the Executive Regulation on Export and Import Regulations (as amended April 30, 2025), with the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad required to promptly confirm requests received from border-province governors in the relevant system in line with commodity policy; importers of goods under this resolution are exempt from ceiling and personal-history restrictions, though currency-obligation fulfillment for exporters and importers using the barter method is conditional on definitive clearance and entry of the essential goods through customs; and all exported goods except petrochemical, refining, steel, and non-ferrous base metal products and petroleum derivatives are covered by the resolution, with the currency-repatriation working group empowered to decide on exceptions. Clause 5 now confirms that customs clearance formalities for essential goods imports (standards, health, and quarantine licenses) are completed in coordination with border-province governors within a maximum of five days, with the IRC and GMP certificate requirement removed as described above for these trade procedures.

The Ministry instructed relevant bodies, including the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education, the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad (Plant Protection Organization and Veterinary Organization of Iran), the National Standards Organization of Iran, and Iran Customs, to take necessary action and provide notice regarding removal of the relevant technical licenses in the import order registration process, in line with the amended Cabinet resolution.

Key Details

  • Approval authority: Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade
  • Responsible organization: Not specified
  • Classification: Circular
  • Affected procedure: Order Registration
  • Document number: 7165241
  • Unique identifier: 404111997861
  • Document date: February 3, 2026
  • Publication date: February 8, 2026
  • Effective date: February 9, 2026
  • Expiration date: Not specified

This summary is provided for orientation only. The official Persian text issued by the relevant Iranian authority is the governing version.