Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued Decree No. 117, exempting customs violations stipulated in Customs Law No. 38 of 2006 from fines.
The decree, published by Syria’s General Authority for Crossings and Customs today, Sunday, May 17, included several articles:
- Exempting customs violations stipulated in Articles 253 through 273 of Customs Law No. 38 of 2006 and its amendments, along with all fines imposed on them under the provisions of the same law.
- Implementing the exemption through a settlement contract by paying only the customs duties, fees, and other taxes due. The exemption also includes all customs duties, fees, other taxes, and fines imposed under the provisions of the same law on goods that escaped seizure.
- Transferring the customs duties, fees, and other taxes collected under the provisions of this decree to the public treasury account.
Conditions for benefiting from the decree - The decree set several conditions for benefiting from the exemptions it issued, including:
- The violations stipulated in Articles 1 and 2 of this decree must have been committed before December 8, 2024.
- The settlement must be completed by paying all customs duties, fees, and other taxes due within six months from the date the decree enters into force, except for violations under Article 2 of this decree related to goods that escaped seizure.
- Exempting violations settled under the decree’s provisions from the Central Bank of Syria’s fine.
- Seized goods and means of transport shall be returned to their owners after settlement is completed under the decree.
Exceptions to the Decree
The decree stipulated several exceptions, including:
- Customs crimes and violations related to drug cases.
- Customs violations for which final judicial rulings had been issued before the decree’s issuance date.
The decree also indicated that the General Authority for Crossings and Customs was tasked with preparing the necessary legislative instrument at the time, in addition to issuing the executive instructions for the decree’s provisions.
Customs Law No. 38 of 2006
Customs Law No. 38 was issued on June 27, 2006, and consists of 298 articles.
Articles 253 through 273 included fines stipulated for several violations, including declarations that misstate the type of goods, declarations placing goods into consumption, export declarations for goods allowed to be exported, and export declarations that would result in unlawfully benefiting from fees.
They also included violations involving transit goods, warehouse violations, free zone violations, temporary admission and re-export violations, and unjustified shortages compared with what was listed in the cargo manifest.
Tax Advance on Importers
The Syrian Ministry of Finance issued two decisions requiring the deduction of a 2% advance from importers’ declared invoices and obliging them to obtain prior financial clearance.
According to the two decisions published by Finance Minister Mohammed Yisr Barnieh on his Facebook page on March 24, the ministry is required to deduct an import advance as part of the annual income tax owed by any importer, under customs declarations placed into local consumption, at a rate of 2% of the value declared by the importer in the import invoice, plus all collected fees and allowances, excluding the consumer spending fee if applicable.
Under the first decision related to the advance, the General Authority for Crossings and Customs must transfer the advances collected from importers to the central treasury account opened at the Central Bank of Syria within 15 days of the month following the month in which the deduction was made.
The second decision also requires importers to present a valid financial clearance issued by the General Authority for Taxes and Fees or its directorates when carrying out import operations at customs offices in all customs crossings.
Under the decision, the General Authority for Taxes and Fees and its directorates must issue clearances valid for three months, six months, or one year, according to criteria set by the authority’s director general.
This decision will enter into force after more than three months, on July 1.
In September 2025, the Syrian Ministry of Finance prepared a draft law to abolish the consumer spending fee, which had been in force for more than 35 years, and replace it with a sales and competitiveness tax system.
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