Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone Customs Contacts
Website: http://nra.gov.sl/
Email: contact.customs@nra.gov.sl
Address: Cline Town, Freetown
Telephone: +232 (22) 2229 2734, +232 2229 0544
Sierra Leone is a country situated in West Africa, bordered by Guinea, Liberia and the Atlantic Ocean. Sierra Leone is a member of the United Nations, African Union, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Commonwealth of Nations, the African Development Bank and other international organizations.
Tariffs
Sierra Leone applies a MFN treatment to all its trading partners. The average MFN tariff, including the excise tax and ECOWAS levy, is 14.9%. The average applied MFN tariff for industrial products is 13.5% and 16.5% for agricultural imports.
Import duties are ad valorem, levied on the c.i.f. (cost, insurance, and freight) value of goods. There aren't seasonal customs duties, tariff quotas or variables levies.
The customs tariff consists of 7 rates:0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30%, with the highest duties applied to final consumer goods.
Sierra Leone applies the ECOWAS supplementary duty of 0.5%, which is levied only on imports from third countries. Sierra Leone also applies an excise tax of 30% on certain imports and a sales tax of 17.5% on both domestic and foreign products.
Product certification and labelling
Imported products must be accompanied by a certificate of origin.
A special permit, issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, is required for the importation of plants, seeds, soil and other imports mixed with soil.
The importation of arms and ammunition and explosives is restricted.
A phytosanitary/fumigation certificate has to be issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The Ministry charges a fee for fumigating the goods, as well as for issuing the certificate.
Gold and diamonds are subject to export licensing requirements.
A special permit issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources is required for the exportation of plants and charcoal.
Exporters of textile and apparel articles are required to register with the Ministry of Trade and Industry. A textile certificate of origin and a visa for textile and apparel articles that originate in and are exported from Sierra Leone is mandatory and is issued by the Commissioner General.
Sierra Leone has no special marking, labelling, or packaging requirements other than the Price Tag Order 1956, which requires traders to display prices on the shelves to help reduce the exploitation of vulnerable or illiterate citizen, and the Weights and Measures Act 1961.1.
Documents for customs clearances
The main documents required for customs clearance are:
- a clear report of findings and an import duty report
- a bill of entry
- commercial invoices
- phytosanitary/fumigation certificate
- certificate of origin
- combined certificate of value and origin, and import declaration
- packing list
- special certificate for goods such as medicine, caustic soda, and salt
- insurance certificate.
Sierra Leone requires pre-shipment inspection of imports.
Sources:
http://embassyofsierraleone.net/node/87
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/s143-3_e.doc.
