The new mechanism for importation of durable capital goods and consumables

The Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade (the “Ministry”) has adopted a new mechanism for the importation of durable capital goods and consumables on 07 October 2018 through the Minister’s letter No. 60/187245 of the same date requiring the registration of branch(es) or representative office(s) for the purpose of importing the durable capital and consumable goods (the “Goods”).

It should be noted that before issuance of the said letter, the Center of Guilds and Merchants’ affairs was responsible for issuing Activity Certificates for the importation of Goods. However, with the new mechanism the issuance of such certificates are supposed to be stopped whereas the official representative of the foreign companies shall be registered in Iran through registering a branch or a representative office in accordance with the Act (Single Article) on Permitting Registration of Branches and Representative Offices of Foreign Companies in Iran.

Subsequently, real persons or legal entities registering the branch or representative office of the foreign company wishing to import the Goods subject of the representation (according to Article 4 of the Consumer Protection Act) such as vehicles (light and heavy), industrial, agricultural, road construction machineries, home appliances, electrical, electronic, visual, audio and communication devices into the country, shall provide the required guarantees for rendering the after sales services to the consumers before the Deputy of Industrial Affairs (for vehicles) and Consumers and Producers Protection Organization (for other products) before placing orders.

The mentioned Organization and Deputy after notifying the applicant of the regulations and criteria for aftersales services and receiving necessary guarantees from the latter in order to provide satisfactory services to the consumers, will submit the relevant information to the Office of the Export and Import Regulations for the purpose of placing orders. The said Office would then take the necessary actions for registering the orders of the representative.

It should be noted that the representative is obliged to provide the Organization and the Deputy (as the case may be) with the information regarding the volume of the importation within the three months period so that the said authorities could monitor the process of providing after sales services.

In case in the course of the representative’s activities, there is a private complainant or the performance of the representative in relation to its aftersale services is not regarded as satisfactory by the supervising authorities, the Office of the Export and Import Regulations shall prevent placing orders by the defaulting representative. Restoring activity by the representative would be subject to the approval of a committee comprising of the representatives of the Organization, Special Deputy and the Deputy for the Economic and Commercial Affairs.

Coordinated by Dr. Mahnaz Mehrinfar & Ms. Sahar Sotoodehnia