Control of Goods (Imports and Export) (Commerce) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 (No 13) Notice, 2024

These regulations soften the import controls on motor vehicles by widening who is exempt and by protecting consignments that were caught mid-journey when the controls came in.

A new section 3A provides that motor vehicles which had already been imported into Zimbabwe, or were at a border post awaiting clearance, before this instrument was gazetted, and which fall within the exempted categories, are similarly exempt. That exemption is deemed to have taken effect on 29 March 2024 — so it reaches back and covers vehicles stuck since then.

A new section 3B exempts antique, classic, vintage and historic vehicles that are at least 25 years old from the date of manufacture, provided they also meet a list of qualitative tests: design and engineering representative of their era, retention of most original features, being well maintained or restored, rarity through limited production numbers or unique features, and significant historical or cultural importance. These are judgement calls, not a checklist a clerk can tick off, so importers should expect the Ministry to assess each vehicle.

The definition of "immigrant" in section 3(2) is also reworked so that it now runs off both the Customs and Excise Suspension Regulations, 2003 (S.I. 257 of 2003) and the Customs and Excise (General) Regulations, 2001 (S.I. 154 of 2001).

The replaced explanatory note sets out two practical requirements: all exempted categories must still satisfy ZIMRA's eligibility requirements, and a vehicle exempted as a classic under section 3B needs an Import Permit from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce before it is imported. So the classic-car exemption is not a free pass — it is a different permission route.

One drafting oddity: the instrument refers to the principal regulations as published in "Statutory Instrument 766 of 1974" in one place and Rhodesia Government Notice 766 of 1974 in another, and the paragraph it substitutes replaces one paragraph (iii) with both an (iii) and an (iv).