Iran Customs Law : Part III Customs Formalities prior to the declaration

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Part III Customs Formalities prior to the declaration

Article 18: Carrier companies shall be obliged, when the means of transport enters the customs territory, draw up two copies of summarized declarations and attach each of them a copy of the manifest and if needed, the bills of lading of each item of the manifest as necessary, and submit them to the customs and goods with holding authority , and in case a mean of transport is empty, a summarized declaration expressing that it is empty shall be submitted. Summarized declaration shall be in Persian language and prepared according to the sample which shall be prepared by the customs in coordination with the withholding authorities, without any erasing, correction and obliteration.

Note 1: Responsibility of transportation companies when drawing up and submitting a summarized declaration with a view to the contents of sealed packages shall be limited to the contents of the relevant bills of lading. Loaded and sealed containers by the consignor shall be considered as sealed packages.

Note 2: The provision of this article shall not include imported goods into the customs territory from free trade – industrial and exclusive economical zones.

Article 19: Unloading of goods in customs premises shall be subject to consent of the customs. Withholding authority shall, before unloading the goods, coordinate with the customs.

Note: Arrangements for monitoring unloading and the manner of indexing, acceptance, delivery, stowing, registering in books and drawing up minutes of meeting and the manner of settlement of cargo of means of transport and arrangement of delivery of the goods to customs warehouses shall be determined in bylaw of this law.

Article 20: If the carrier company, after submitting a summarized declaration and its accompanying manifest, submit another declaration and manifest to the customs and withholding authority in order to modify or supplement prior declaration, such manifest and modified or supplemented declaration shall be accepted, provided that they are submitted before the start of unloading operations.

Note: If corrected items are not related to the type of goods and number of packages, the customs shall also accept such modified or supplemented manifest and declaration, after unloading and before the issuance of delivery order.

Article 21: Where at the time of final delivery of the cargo of a means of transport to withholding authority and comparing it with contents of summarized declaration and its accompanying manifest, there are differences with respect to the number of packages delivered, a minutes of meeting shall immediately be formulated on the issue and signed by representative of carrier company, officials of withholding authority and the customs monitoring of ficials. The carrier company shall, with respect to such differences, be treated in accordance with article 104 of this law.

Note: The containers for which at destination of bill of lading, summarized declarations as multi-consignments (LCL) are formulated and submitted to withholding authority , shall be unloaded at designated place at the request of the international transport companies which hold general delivery order and submit separate bills of lading. Then a separate warehouse receipt shall be issued and in case of mismatch of the number of packages in each bill of lading with unloaded packages, the provisions of this article shall be applied.

Article 22: All functions of the transport companies under this law may be performed by their authorized representative. In this case such representative shall undertake all related airport, port and customs responsibilities.

Iran Customs Law : Part II Valuation and rules of origin

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Iran Customs Law – Part II  Valuation and rules of origin

Chapter 1 – The value of goods

Topic 1 – The value of imported goods

Article 14: Customs value of imported goods in all cases shall be purchase price of the goods in the origin plus the charges of insurance and freight (CIF), plus other charges imposed on such goods up to entering into the first customs office, which shall be determined according to purchase invoice or other documents submitted by the owner of the goods and it shall be based on the currency exchange rate announced by the Central Bank on declaration day.

Note 1: In determining the customs value, the followings shall be added, if they have been paid:

a. Intellectual property rights;

b. Designing and engineering charges in other countries;

c. cases and containers;

d. Materials, components and equipment used in the manufacture of imported goods and supplied by the buyer;

e. Each part of the proceeds of the resale and proceeds of transferring to seller directly or indirectly.

Note 2: If the customs value of the imported goods is seperate from the price inserted in submitted documents, it does not include the following charges or cases:

a. Charges of manufacturing, installation, assembly, maintenance or technical assistance on goods such as equipment, machines and industrial equipment after their arrival;

b. Charges of transportation after arrival of goods;

c. Charges of common interest arising from financing purchase of imported goods by the seller or a third party;

d. Charges of measures taken outside the terms of transaction by the buyer, such as marketing activities for the goods;

e. Copyrights and domestic reproduction of imported goods.

f. Value or charges of information and instructions recorded in the software or on data media such as diskettes, CDs and etc. for use in computers; In these cases, the value of raw media shall be calculated.

Note: “Information and instructions” including sound recordings, films, videos, commercial softwares as well as “information media”
including integrated circuits, semiconductors and similar devices shall be excluded from this provision.

Article 15: If the purchase invoice is not submitted by the owner of goods to the customs or the value referred to in documents submitted by the owner of goods is not accepted by the customs based on the reasons and evidences, the value of the goods shall be determined on the base of one of the following practices:

a. Release records of the identical goods at the same time from country of origin;

b. Release records of the similar goods at the same time from country of origin;

c. Selling price of the same goods in the domestic market after the necessary adjustments;

d. Calculated value based on composing factors;

e. Valuation of goods based on available documents and information with flexibility in applying these practices.

Note: In applying these practices, observing transposition shall be required and only at the request of the importer, order of application of the third and fourth practices shall be replaceable.Terms and conditions of implementing of this article shall be determined in bylaw of this law.

Topic 2 – customs value of exporting goods

Article 16: Customs value of exporting goods shall be selling price of the goods for export plus the charges of insurance, handling, transportation and other charges imposed on that goods up to releasing from the customs territory which shall be determined according to invoice and other documents submitted by the exporter. In case no documents are submitted and/or declared value is inappropriate based on documentary evidences, the customs shall determine the value of exporting goods by inquiring from concerned authorities and based on its wholesale price in the domestic market, plus the charges imposed on it up to releasing from
the customs territory.

Note: Establishing inappropriateness of customs value shall not prevent the export of the goods and the customs may, by obtaining a
pledge, postponed consideration of the value until the goods is exported, unless export of the goods is subject to the payment of export duties based on value of goods.

Chapter 2 – Rules of Origin

Article 17: Country of origin shall be the country where the goods is produced or manufactured therein and is applied for the purposes of quantitative restriction or any other measures related to trade or tariff aims. Rules of origin shall be determined in bylaw of this law based on rules of WTO and approved by the customs Cooperation Council.

Note: The authority responsible for issuing certificate of origin in Iran shall be Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines.

Iran customs Law : Import duties and charges of services

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Iran customs Law : Chapter 3 – General Topic 1 – Import duties and charges of services

Article 5: Import duties and charges of rendering services shall be collected in the national currency by the customs or persons rendering services respectively, regardless whether the goods are new or used.

Note 1: In calculating the fees that the customs collects for performing customs formalities, the amounts less than one thousand (1000) Riyals shall be considered equivalent to one thousand (1000) Rls.

Note 2: Owner of the goods shall be responsible for paying import duties, charges of rendering services and fines related to release.

Note 3: Instances and the manner of collecting charges of rendering services shall, subject to legal provisions, be specified in bylaw of this law.

Note 3: Instances and the manner of collecting charges of rendering services shall, subject to legal provisions, be specified in bylaw of this law. security and determining of a deadline not more than one year for paying import duties.

Note 1: The increase of import duties shall not include existing goods in customs premises.

Note 2: Incomes referred to in this law shall, subject to article 160, be deposited into an account designated by the General Treasury of the Country and announced by Iran Customs Administration. The customs is obliged to present a receipt in lieu of collecting any fees to the payer.

Article 7: Goods in the customs shall be as a bond for payments of all fees pertaining to such goods and other outright liabilities of the owner of the goods with regard to the fees the collection of which are the responsibility of the customs in accordance with the law. The customs may not allow delivery or release of the goods before collecting or securing such fees.

Article 8: The customs is allowed to inform Taxation Affairs and Finance Organization of its outright claims against persons arising from the implementation of this law, in order to enable such Organization to collect them under the Direct Taxation Law and its bylaw and subsequent amendments.

Topic 2 – Information technology and communication

Article 9: The customs is obliged to provide possibilities of applying ICT in performance of its functions, subject to e-commerce and Civil Service Management laws.

Note: Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance shall be obliged to develop electronic customs bylaw within six months of the date of entry into force of this law, in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and submit it to Council of Ministers for approval.

Topic 3 – security

Article 10: With the exception of the charges of rendering services which is immediately collected, the amount of obtained security in order to collect import duties for permissible goods shall be equal to pertaining import duties and in respect of other goods it shall be equal to related import duties plus one-half to three times the value of goods which is determined by the customs as the case may be.

Topic 4 – Customs formalities and controls

Article 11: In order to ensure compliance with Customs Law, all goods entered into or exited from customs territory shall be subject to customs controls and formalities by using practices such as risk management, regular and random checks, deployment of modern equipment and practices of checks, audit-bases procedures and in exceptional cases escorting or surveillance.

Article 12: In order to facilitate and expedite the customs formalities at entry and exit points, representatives of ministries and agencies responsible for other controls shall be obliged to take measures under the customs control. Other controls, such as medical, veterinary, plants, technical and quality standards checkss shall be organized in coordination and under control of the customs. In order to facilitate international trade, some of these controls may, with prior coordination, be entrusted to the customs or take place at another location at the discretion of the customs. Ministries and agencies responsible for these controls shall provide necessary facilities to carry out their functions faster.

Topic 5 – Requirements of harmonized system

Article 13: Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance shall be obliged to propose the amendments of harmonized commodity description
and coding system, its explanatory notes and subsequent amendments in the framework of a bylaw, to Council of Ministers for approval and publish such amendments in highly circulated newspapers and exclusive website of the customs.

Note: In case such amendments affect the rates of import duties, goods in customs and goods for which letter of credit or bill of lading have been issued before issuing related notification, shall be subject to lesser rates. The period for arrival of the goods referred to in the bill of lading shall be determined in bylaw of this law.

Iran customs Law : part 1 – Organization of Iran Customs Administration

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Organization of Iran Customs Administration

part 1 Chapter 2 – Goals, functions and organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration

Article 2: Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration is a governmental organization af filiated to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance which as an economic border guard plays a coordinating and key role in the country’s entry and exit points, and it is responsible for exercising sovereignty of the government in the enforcement of Customs Law and other laws and regulations related to import, export and transit of goods, collection of import duties, customs duties, related taxes, technical requirements and facilitation of trade. Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration in order to perform its legal functions, shall determine the levels of its required administrative of fices without observing the requirements of divisions of the country and article (30) of Civil Service Management Law, proportional to the volume and the type of activities. Organization of the customs and administrative of fices shall, proportional to the functions and missions assigned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, prepared and after confirmation of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance shall be approved by the Council of Ministers. Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration consists of the headquarters of Iran Customs Administration and administrative customs .

Article 3
Functions and authorities of Iran Customs Administration shall be as follows:

a. Applying government policies on the export,import and transit of goods;

b. Assessment and collection of import duties and other legally receivable fees by the Iran Customs Administration;

c. Performing legal formalities of release, delivering the goods to its owner or his/her legal agent, examining the release documents in order to establish the authenticity of release terms and conditions of release and collecting deductions or refunding surcharges;

d. Controlling and supervising transit of goods through the territory of the country;

e. Implementing of laws and regulations related to border small markets, frontiers and peddlers;

f. Appling customs regulations on exemptions and prohibitions in sections related to outright export, temporary export, outright import, temporary admission, carriage of goods coastwise, internal transit of goods, trans shipment, boundary clearing transactions, duty free shops, political couriers and packages and international post;

g. Implementing of laws and regulations related to customs offences and smuggling, abandoned and seized goods;

h. Anticipating and providing the infrastructure needed to implement and deploy modern systems, procedures and practices, such as single
window in customs activities;

i. Collecting, analyzing and publishing statistics of the volume of imports and exports of goods;

j. Reviewing and recognizing barriers of customs system and planning towards removing them;

k. Commenting on the draft of customs-related plans, bills and decrees;

l. Adopting appropriate procedures for the conduct and administration of legal and judicial proceedings in relation to customs affairs;

m. Training of staff and supervising and inspecting actions and behaviors of customs staff, detecting their offences and administrative
faults;

n. Inspecting customs administrative of fices, supervising their functions and quantitative and qualitative organizing of entry and exit points;

o. Investigating and settling disputes arising from the implementation of the Customs Laws and regulations between the customs and the owner of the goods in accordance with related laws and regulations;

p. Developing international relations, concluding bilateral or multilateral agreements or memorandum of understanding, membership in and active interaction with international and customs organizations subject to Article Seventy Seven (77) of the constitution law and related laws;

q. Complying with the recommendations of the World Customs Organization, commercial contracts and concluded or clearing agreements within the framework of relevant laws and regulations;

r. Complying with the provisions of the law on the general policies of Article forty four (44) of the constitution law in order to assign non-sovereign customs affairs to private and cooperative sectors;

s. Using modern technologies and equipping customs premises with advanced equipments to increase ef ficiency and improve performing customs facilities;

t. Taking necessary measures to facilitate Trade Affairs, encourage goods exports and expand transit of goods;

u. Facilitating customs processes with a view to develop tourism;

v. Performing other customs functions under this law and/or other laws and regulations.

Article 4
a. The President of Iran Customs Administration is appointed by the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance and as the highest executive authority of the customs in the framework of related laws and legal provisions, is responsible for administrating of customs affairs, proposing the organization and budget recruitment, staff appointments and dismissals, transfer them from an office to another one, representing the customs in all legal authorities with the right of substitution and referring to arbitration as necessary, and supervising proper implementation of the functions assigned to the customs under the auspices the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance. His/her position is also equal to those of the authorities referred to in article 71(d) of Civil Service Management Law.

b. Deputies of the customs shall be appointed upon the proposal of the president of Iran Customs Administration and approval of the
Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance by decrees of the President of Iran Customs Administration.

c. As far as employment regulations are concerned, staff of the customs shall be subject to Civil Service Management Law and its subsequent amendments, and taking into account particular characteristics, importance and responsibilities of customs posts and their impact on revenue collection, they shall enjoy the advantage of job right tables referred to in article 65 of the mentioned law by a factor of 1-2. In order to provide human resources of administrating of fices, the customs may displace human resources, taking into account their degrees of education and experience and expertise, to take organizational positions. Additional financial burden arising from the implementation of this law shall be provided out of the proceeds aris-ing of this law.

Iran customs law : Part X Customs broker

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Iran customs law : Part X Customs broker

Article 128: Customs broker in the customs means a person who performs customs formalities of goods belonging to other persons on their behalf. The scope of powers of an attorney shall be identified separately in a formal power of attorney drawn up by the client in the model form provided by the customs .The customs broker should obtain a special license from Iran Customs Administration which shall be valid for clearing goods from all customs houses of the country.

Note: Terms and conditions and directive of appointment, manner of activity and other Affairs and Finance related to this article shall, within the framework of this law, be determined in the bylaw.

Article 129: In cases where a customs broker or respective release employee, when performing customs formalities, intentionally draws up an untrue declaration comprising a financial loss to the government, his/her offence shall, upon the proposal of Iran Customs Administration, be investigated in the offence investigation Commission composed of the following persons:

a . A representative of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade ;

b .A representative of customs brokers union nominated by Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (if there is no union, a representative of the Chamber) and a representative of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives, as the case may be;

c . A representative of Iran Customs Administration (Head of the Commission).

The commission shall invite the concerned customs broker to its meeting and investigate the case and in case of proving that the offence is intentionally committed, it shall, proportional to the extent and frequency of the offence, suspend or permanently nullify the license of customs broker and inform in writing the concerned customs broker and all customs. In cases where a customs broker or respective clearance employee is involved in committing the act of customs smuggling, he/she shall, in addition to above provisions, the subject will be to required punishments in customs smuggling laws. If his/her offence requires other punishments, related provisions shall be applied.The commission and it secretariat shall be located at Iran Customs Administration.

Note 1: Suspensions and nullification of the license shall not prevent performing customs formalities of declarations submitted in advance.

Note 2: In case where the offender customs broker is a legal person, the provisions of this article shall apply both to such legal person and those who have signing right in that legal person and have signed untrue declaration and/or have been involved in that offence. In case where such customs broker is a natural person, he/she may not act in customs broker Affairs and Finance as a person who have signing right in a customs broker legal person.

Article 130: Transport companies which under transport document and in performing their obligations bear the responsibility of clearing and delivering the goods to its owner at destination, should hold customs broker license in order to perform release formalities and in these cases transport document shall be considered as power of attorney provided that the possibility of this activity is explicitly provided for in articles of association of the company.

Note: Performing customs formalities of the goods in internal transit in the form of non-stop transport, external transit and transhipment by transport companies shall not require holding a customs broker card. In these cases the bill of lading shall be considered as power of attorney.

Article 131: Express carrier companies which bear the responsibility of transporting and delivering authority of the goods may, only by submitting the bill of lading and invoice to the customs, clear and deliver the goods to their owners in accordance with other provisions.

Note: List of and the amount of clear-able goods, terms and conditions of the activity and responsibilities of mentioned companies within the framework of this law shall be determined in the bylaw.

Article 132: The customs brokers, transportation companies and all natural and legal persons shall be responsible for acts of their introduced employees and representatives to the customs.

Iran Customs Law : Part XI Review and post release measures

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Iran customs Clearance law – Part XI Review and post release measures

Chapter 1 – general

Article 133: The customs shall be obliged to review all permits, declarations and other documents relating to release of goods after signing the permits, at least once and before being subjected to lapse of time to ensure the proper implementation of regulations and that pertaining customs fees have been collected properly and completely in accordance with the regulations.

Article 134: Iran Customs Administration may re-review as many as customs declarations it deems necessary in statutory period.

Note: At the request of Iran Customs Administration, customs of fices shall be obliged to send declarations and documents in question for re-review before the expiration of the six-month statutory period.

Article 135: If after release of the goods from the customs it is known that fees which the collection of which is born by the customs have been collected more or less than what were required or basically have not been collected and/or have been collected by mistake, the customs and the owner of the goods may, within six months from the date of signing customs permit or license, claim deductions and/or refund surcharges. Refunding of surcharges shall be credited from current income.

Note 1: Deductions less than one million (1,000,000)
Rls. in each case shall not be claimable.

Note 2: If other statutory lapse of time for claiming the fees the collection of which is born by the customs is determined in accordance with lex specialis , the case shall be subject to the relevant deadlines..

Note 3: If after release of the goods and with-in six months from signing the customs permit or license, an exemption order is submitted to the customs, the relevant paid amount shall be refundable in accordance with the regulations.

Article 136:The counterpart of the customs for claiming deductions or refunding surcharges shall be a person in his/her name as the owner of the goods, a customs permit or license have been issued.

Chapter 2 – Deductions

Article 137: The customs is obliged to serve the amount of margin and/or deductions to the owner of the goods, and if he/she is not accessible, to the attorney or representative of the owner of the goods by a written letter of claim sent to the address stated in the declaration and require the owner of the goods to pay it. Serving letter of claim to the attorney or representative of the owner of the goods interrupt six-month lapse of time, even though the subject of attorney ship or representation is limited to release of the goods.

Note 1: Signing day of permit or license and serving day of deductions shall not be calculated in six-month deadline.

Note 2: Letter of claim should be related to one permit or license, and its amount of money and legal evidence should be specified.

Article 138: In case the persons from whom deductions are claimed have any objection about the amount which is claimed, they may inform the customs of the reasons of their objection in writing within thirty days from the date of serving the letter of claim. In this case the customs shall consider the letter of objection and in case in which it considers that the objection is justified, it shall refrain from its claim, otherwise it shall notify the payer of reasons of refusal of the objection and in that case, if the owner of the goods still insist on his/her objection, he/she may request reference of the case to the customs disputes settlement commission within ten days from the date of serving notification and without depositing any deposit. Reference of the case shall be possible not more than six months after above mentioned period and it shall require securing the amount which is claimed.

Article 139: If no payment and no objection occurs in periods referred to in article 144 of this law and in other cases in which a claim becomes outright under this law, executive operations of collecting claims shall begin.

Article 140:From the date on which a claim becomes outright, in addition to the margin, a penalty for deferred payment equivalent to half percent (0/5%) of the amount of the deduction shall be calculated and collected in lieu of per month with comparison to delayed period.

Chapter 3 – Surcharges

Article 141: Requests for refunding surcharges which are made after releasing of the goods from the customs shall be given effect when the following conditions are met:

a. Each requests for refunding surcharges should only be related to one customs permit or license, and the amount of and the reasons of refunding request should be mentioned therein.

b. Submitting the original copy of the permit or license for refunding surcharges shall be obligatory; unless it is proved that the original
document has been lost. In such a case the applicant should deposit a pledge so that in case the opposite is detected, he/she could bear the responsibility.

c. Criterion for recognition of submitting date of a request for refunding surcharges shall be its registration date in the customs in which the goods are cleared and/or Iran Customs Administration.

d. Signing day of permit and registration day request for refunding surcharges shall not be calculated in six-month deadline.

Article 142:The amount of surcharges shall be paid to the owner of goods or his/her legal representative who is entitled to receive the fees within one month since it becomes outright. In case of delay in payment, the customs shall pay an amount from the fees collected penalties referred to in article 140 as a penalty to the owner of the goods which is equivalent to half percent (0/5%) of the amount of the surcharges in lieu of per month.

Note: The customs shall, after refunding the surcharges, be obliged to insert the case, while mentioning the amount, on the original copy of customs permit or license and declaration; unless it is proved that the original document have been lost. In such a case the applicant should deposit a formal pledge so that in case the opposite is detected, he/she could bear the whole responsibility.

Chapter 4 – Post clearance audit

Article 143: In order to ensure compliance with customs regulations, within three years from issuing date of the documents by virtue of which the goods are released from the customs and in case of detecting untrue documents which do not subject it to smuggling, Iran Customs Administration shall, about release of goods that entails any fiscal losses for the government and/or establishes unjustified privileges for the owner of the goods, be obliged to determine and collect a fine equals to thirty percent (30%) to three times of the value of the goods referred to in the document. Collection of such penalties shall not prevent the prosecution of the case by the relevant articles of the Islamic Penal Code.

Note 1: In case of the fees refunded unduly be forgery and dissimulation, in addition to collecting the original refunded amount, a penalty equal to one hundred percent (100%) of it shall also be collected.

Note 2: The owners of the goods, transport companies, customs brokers and other concerned persons shall be obliged to submit available documents and evidences requested, as the case may be, by the customs in relation to addressed case.

Iran customs law : Part XII The customs disputes settlement authorities

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Iran customs law disputes settlement Part XII The customs disputes settlement authorities

Article 144: The customs disputes settlement authority in assessment of tariff, value of the goods, fines, other than cases related to customs smuggling, force majeure and customs regulations shall be the customs disputes settlement commission. The commission shall be composed of the following persons:

a. Four original members out of the staff of Iran Customs Administration;

b. Two original members out of the staff of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade;

c. One original member out of the staff of Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance;

d. One original member as the representative of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines;

e. One original member as the representative of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives.

Note 1: Members of the commission shall be selected out of knowledgeable persons in customs affairs by such bodies.

Note 2: Commission members shall be considered as equal in rank of director general and should have at least fifteen years of related work experience and be selected by the President of Iran Customs Administration, concerned ministers and the heads of mentioned chambers.

Note 3: Along with either original member, an alternate member shall be introduced.

Note 4: The ruling of customs disputes settlement commission shall be binding unless in cases where the amount of the margin between the opinion of the customs and the amount accepted by the payer and/or customs value of the goods whose import and export conditions are the subject matter of the dispute is more than fifty million (50.000.000) Rls. In this case, the payer may, within twenty days from the date of the serving the ruling, request reference of the case to the reviewing commission.

Note 5: Disputes between the persons and the customs shall, initially at the request of the payer, be investigated in administrative bodies of Iran Customs Administration, and if the payer insists on his/her objection, the case shall be referred to the customs disputes settlement commission by the President of Iran Customs Administration and/or the person determined by his/her written order. In order to file a dispute in the mentioned commission, the owner of the goods should deposit an amount equal to half percent (0/5%) of the disputed amount as the investigation fee. If the issued judgment by the customs disputes settlement commission exactly confirms the opinion of the Customs, the mentioned amount shall be credited in definitive income, but if the judgment is in favor of the goods owner or the dispute is referred to the appeal commission at the request of the goods owner and the judgment of mentioned commission is in favor of the goods owner, the amount of deposit shall be refunded. Disputes relating to customs smuggling shall be investigated in competent authorities.

Note 6: The commission shall give advisory opinion on tariff inquiry and plans and reports submitted by the President of Iran Customs Administration. In cases where in the implementation of article 43 of this law a tariff is determined, it shall be binding for the customs.

Note 7: In cases where during the investigating of a case, the Commission is faced with issues other than the subject matter of the dispute, it shall inform the President of Iran Customs Administration of the issue.

Note 8: The presence of at least six members shall constitute the quorum for the meetings of the customs disputes settlement commission and its ruling shall be in effect by majority votes of the total members (at least five members).

Note 9: Reasons, justifications and evidences of the ruling should be stated in the text and opinions of the minority should be noted therein.

Article 145: The chairman and a vice chairman of the customs disputes settlement commission shall be elected in the first meeting of the commission by secret ballot and shall be appointed by the administrative order of the President of Iran Customs Administration.

Article 146: The customs Dispute Reviewing Commission shall be composed of the following persons:

a .One of the employees of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance elected by the Minister (chairman);

b . One of the deputies of Iran Customs Administration elected by the President of Iran Customs Administration (vice chairman);

c . One of the employees of the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade elected by the Minister;

d .A judge elected the President of the judicial power;

e .One of the members of the board of directors of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines nominated by the president of the chamber or one of the members of the board of directors of Iran Chamber of Cooperatives elected by the president of the chamber with regard to cases related to cooperatives.

Note 1: Along with either original member, an alternate member shall be nominated. Members of the Commission should have least twenty years of related work experience.

Note 2: In order to file a dispute in the reviewing commission, the owner of the goods should deposit an amount equal to one percent (1%) of the disputed amount as the investigation fee. If the ruling issued by the commission con firms the opinion of the customs, such amount shall be credited in definitive income but if the ruling is in favor of the owner of the goods, deposited amount shall be refunded.

Note 3: Those who have voted in a case as a member of the customs disputes settlement commission shall not be entitled to attend and vote in the reviewing commission for the same case.

Note 4: Ruling issued by the reviewing commission shall be final and binding. They may be sued from procedural point of view in the Court of Administrative Justice only up to thirty days from the date of issuing the ruling.

Article 147:Members of the commissions shall be elected for two years under of ficial administrative orders and they shall not be changed during this period except in the case of retirement, resignation, incapacity, administrative or criminal convictions, transfer to other organizations and unjustified absences for more than three successive meetings.

Note: Membership in the commissions shall only be re-electable for another two-year period.

Article 148: In cases where the number of cases referred to the commission requires, the President of Iran Customs Administration may request the ministers and authorities referred to in articles 144 and 146 to nominate additional members for establishing new customs disputes settlement and reviewing commissions. In this case, other authorities shall also be obliged to nominate requested members in accordance with required conditions in this law.

Article 149: Rulings of the commissions could not be extended to similar cases but administrative bodies of Iran Customs Administration may, in similar cases and unity of the issue, invoke to recent final rulings of the commissions in cases where the rulings of settlements customs dis commission and reviewing commissions are conforming each other, provided that such rulings are also accepted by the owner of the goods.