Ninth Session Resolutions on Border Trade (Koolbari and Sailor Trade)

Effective from

2 September 2025

Issued by

Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade

Reference

No. 5953407

The Trade Development Organization of Iran has communicated the resolutions adopted at the ninth session of the working group established under Article 4 of the Law on Organizing and Supervising Border Trade (Koolbari and Sailor Trade) and Creating Sustainable Employment for Border Residents, held on Mordad 12, 1404 (August 3, 2025) at the organization’s headquarters. Under the law’s implementing bylaw, working group sessions must be attended by the ministers and heads of member organizations, or their deputies; the notice was addressed to several ministers and senior officials with a request that deputy-level attendance be arranged going forward, given delays in obtaining signatures when resolutions must be circulated to lower levels for approval.

The session’s resolutions cover a wide range of operational matters. Items deferred from the eighth session concerning food and health permit procedures at the Food and Drug Organization were not reviewed due to the absence of that organization’s representative. The Ministry of Interior’s Security and Law Enforcement Deputy was directed to correct or rescind correspondence that had granted sailor-trade travel permits outside the working group’s approved framework, with any vessels or ports involved in unauthorized trips or imports becoming subject to Articles 9 and 13 of the bylaw. The Central Task Force for Combating Smuggling of Goods and Currency was tasked with forming the committee under Articles 9 and 10 of the bylaw and providing the working group with a list of affected vessels and ports.

Other resolutions extended the eligibility period for incentive trips and the clearance timelines set under the eighth session’s resolutions (through Shahrivar 31 and Mehr 30, 1404, respectively); set the second-quarter sailor-trade quota allocation, distinguishing standard vessels from vessels with a clearance history under the new procedure (which receive two trips at full loading capacity, subject to meeting requirements including payment of the 5 percent goods value fee); amended Article 13 of the koolbari procedure directive to allow multiple statistical registrations up to the monthly quota ceiling; and required Customs to prevent multiple statistical registrations on a single declaration for koolbari or sailor trade, while allowing a single statistical registration to be split across multiple declarations if Customs’ systems support balance tracking and amortization. Customs was also directed to pursue conclusion of customs mutual cooperation agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Qatar. The working group further reviewed vessel-tracking (AIS) coverage issues, conditions for extending sailor-trade eligibility to vessels named in prior Central Task Force correspondence, and a proposed table of candidate ports — Shahid Soleimani Ghachin (Hormozgan), Khorramshahr (Khuzestan), and Shahid Kalantari Chabahar (Sistan and Baluchestan) — for addition to the list of ports covered by the sailor-trade procedure, subject to infrastructure and written confirmation from Iran Customs and the Ports and Maritime Organization. A number of additional proposals submitted by provincial officials (covering quota increases, ratio changes between koolbari and sailor trade, and related requests) were not reviewed due to the absence of the proposing organizations’ representatives.

Border cooperative companies, vessel operators, and provincial industry, mine, and trade departments involved in koolbari and sailor trade should coordinate with Customs and the relevant provincial authorities regarding implementation of these resolutions.

Key Details

• Approval authority: Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade
• Responsible organization: Not specified
• Classification: Regulation
• Affected procedure: Statistical Registration
• Document number: 5953407
• Unique identifier: 404061616804
• Document date: September 2, 2025
• Publication date: September 7, 2025
• Effective date: September 2, 2025
• 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.