TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has ordered the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) to take the necessary measures for the clearance of basic goods deposited at the country’s customs.

According to IRICA Deputy Head Mehrdad Jamal Orounaqi, in a recent meeting of the government economic coordination headquarters, some problems and issues were raised regarding the clearance of goods in the country’s customs, and a report was presented to the president.

Following the mentioned meeting, Rouhani issued a decree ordering to investigate and resolve the mentioned problems and also agreed with the IRICA and Industry Ministry’s proposals in this regard.

According to Orounaqi, currently, over 5.2 million tons of basic goods have been piled up in the country’s ports, of which 3.8 million tons are deposited at Imam Khomeini Port.

Head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Mohammad Rastad had earlier said that the outbreak of the coronavirus was the main reason for the delay in the clearance of goods from ports and customs.

The importers however say that the lack of foreign currency allocations for them has been a major challenge for clearing their goods.

Back in February, the Iranian market regulation headquarters approved six new directives aiming to enhance the clearance of goods at the country’s customs.

The mentioned directives covered a variety of areas including the value of the goods, weight tolerance, abandoned goods, banned goods, and foreign transit.

Also, to prevent the deposition of goods in special economic zones and customs, the IRICA was given the authority to take the necessary actions to clear basic and essential goods for transit, without requiring the owners to place order registration.

Earlier in January, Iranian Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Alireza Razm-Hosseini had said that his ministry was going to take necessary measures to accelerate the clearance of goods at customs to help regulate domestic markets.

EF/MA