By Staff reporter

The Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) has announced that with effect from 1 November 2020, all goods imported into Zimbabwe by road should be pre-cleared before their arrival at the country’s borders as part of efforts to decongest the ports of entry.

Zimra said all privately imported motor vehicles driven or transported by car carriers must be pre-cleared before they are dispatched to Zimbabwe.

“Importers or their agents should submit scanned copies of invoices, bills of lading, export documents, proof of payment, freight statement, copy of passport, police clearance, letter of rebate (where applicable) and any other relevant documents relating to importation online to enable officers to calculate and advise them of the customs duty payable.

“Where duties are exempted because of non-duty paying regime such as a rebate, the necessary processes will be done and importer advised”, Zimra said.

Zimra said all the imported vehicles will be subjected to compliance checks before the Customs Clearance Certificate was processed and issued.

“Motor vehicles can only be loaded onto carriers or driven into the country when the relevant processes have been completed, including the payment of duty, where applicable. Clearance details must be sent to the carrier to enable them to load vehicles,” it said.

It warned that failure to pre-clear the vehicle(s) and or providing false information on documents was an offence.