Sixth Session Resolutions of Border Trade Working Group

Effective from

12 June 2025

Issued by

Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade

Reference

No. 5036959

Iran’s Article 4 Working Group, established under the Law on Organizing and Supervising Border Trade (Kolbari and Boat Trade) and Creating Stable Employment for Border Residents, held its sixth session on 21 Farvardin 1404 (April 10, 2025) at the Bushehr Governorate, chaired by Dr. Dehghan Dehnavi. The resolutions of that session were subsequently communicated to the Ministers of Intelligence, Interior, Roads and Urban Development, the acting Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, the Vice President and Head of the Plan and Budget Organization, and the President’s Special Representative at the Central Headquarters for Combating Smuggling of Goods and Currency.

The session’s resolutions covered several operational matters for border trade through authorized ports. These included: confirming that single-leg (through) transport is permitted at all covered ports, subject to Note 1 of Article 7 of the boat-trade procedure approved 17/11/1402; directing the Tax Affairs Organization, in coordination with the implementing regulation of the border trade law, to finalize a checklist-based mechanism by the end of Farvardin 1404 for handling inquiries related to tax and legal matters, under which owners of covered vessels registered in the first year of the law’s implementation are exempt from operating income tax (subject to filing a zero-rate tax return under Article 6 bis), and electronic invoicing requirements are eased for covered vessel owners in the first year, with first-year non-issuance penalties waived while electronic invoicing capability is made available through the taxpayer portal (with a 10% value-added tax withholding option); a proposal to amend the implementing regulation to allow legal formalities to be completed by boat-trade agents or goods owners, per criteria to be set by the working group; a review mechanism for starred items in the annex to the boat-trade procedure (approved 17/11/1402), under which items receiving repeat approvals from the same authority within a set period may be cleared without further review, with the Central Headquarters for Combating Smuggling of Goods and Currency coordinating review with relevant agencies and reporting outcomes to the working group (other items continue to be cleared under prior procedure); a directive that, effective 1 Tir 1404, statistical registration by kolbars and kolbari agents under the prior procedure will no longer be possible in the Comprehensive Trade System; the addition of almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and raisins to row 54 of the list of border-trade-eligible items; recognition that two specific registered ports (registration numbers 13517 and 84) meet the eligibility criteria under Clause 5, Article 1 of the border trade law’s implementing regulation, and conditional recognition of a third port (registration number 13397) pending authentication of its supporting documentation by the Ports and Maritime Organization; relocating Note 1 of Article 15 of the boat-trade procedure to become a note under Article 12, due to subject-matter relatedness; and a directive that the Ports and Maritime Organization periodically update and publish, on its information portal, the list of registration numbers, net tonnage (GT), province, and port of registration for vessels covered by the border trade law’s implementing regulation.

The session further addressed transitional cases: vessels that departed from covered ports before 12 Esfand 1403 to use their second 1402 voyage quota, and that have not yet completed import and clearance, may complete clearance of their goods by 31 Khordad 1404, in addition to the voyage covered under the boat-trade procedure approved 17/11/1403; the Ports and Maritime Organization must report the list of vessels covered by this provision, by vessel registration number, IMO number, and departure date, to the working group secretariat within one week for transmission to Customs.

Key Details

• Approval authority: Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade
• Responsible organization: Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade
• Classification: Regulation
• Affected procedure: Statistical Registration
• Document number: 5036959
• Unique identifier: 404032104912
• Document date: April 21, 2025
• Publication date: June 11, 2025
• Effective date: June 12, 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.