Control of Goods (Import and Export) (Commerce) (Amendment) Regulations, 2026 (No. 15)

This is a substantial rewrite of Zimbabwe's import and export licensing regime, and it repeals fourteen open general import licence notices going back to 2017 in the process.

The headline is the vehicle age limit. Second-hand vehicles aged ten years or more from date of manufacture, in the classes listed in the Second Schedule — buses of ten seats or more, cars and station wagons, double cabs, and light and medium goods vehicles up to five tonnes — may not be imported, and no licence will be issued for them whatever is pending elsewhere. A vehicle imported in breach must be re-exported at the owner's expense, and if it is not re-exported within 60 days it is forfeited to the State under the Customs and Excise Act. Five exceptions survive: inherited vehicles from deceased estates, vehicles belonging to immigrants as defined in the customs suspension and general regulations, vehicles of diplomats returning from posting, and vintage vehicles as defined in the Vehicle Registration and Licensing Act.

Second-hand clothing may only be imported under a permit for charitable distribution, on conditions the Secretary sets in writing. Second-hand undergarments are prohibited under all circumstances.

Licences now cost money: US$100 to apply for an import licence and US$50 for an export licence, or the local currency equivalent at the interbank rate. Both are non-refundable, and nothing is processed until proof of payment is produced. The Secretary may refuse an application where goods fail national quality or safety standards, where the trade is considered prejudicial to Zimbabwe's economic interests, or where the applicant has previously breached the regulations.

The licensable goods list is replaced wholesale. It now covers school uniforms including socks, furniture and steel kitchen units, live poultry and poultry meat, pork, retail-packed milk and cream including fermented milk, onions, potatoes, noodles, cement and clinker, fuels imported by anyone other than NOCZIM, aluminium sulphate, plastic pipes, bags and polymers, conveyor belting, used tyres, doors and frames, a long list of paper, stationery, books and printed matter, and a schedule of essential medicines and intravenous fluids — paracetamol, ibuprofen, amoxicillin, metformin, metronidazole, normal saline, Ringer's lactate and others. On the export side, fertiliser, raw and refined sugar, and second-hand industrial equipment require a permit.

Applications go by letter to the Permanent Secretary for Industry and Commerce in Harare or Bulawayo, one per product category. Companies must attach a certificate of incorporation and CR14, a valid tax clearance certificate, a Standards Development Fund levy receipt and a proforma invoice, and must state that the goods cannot be sourced locally. Individuals attach certified ID or passport and a written justification. Licences are collected in person by the applicant or an authorised representative with a letter on the applicant's letterhead.

Ordinary shoppers get a defined allowance: once per calendar month, without a licence, an individual may import for personal use 4 litres of cooking oil, 4kg of sugar, 2kg each of cereals, jam, peanut butter and margarine, a box of 24 bars of laundry soap, 4kg of washing powder, one blanket, four pieces of cotton woven fabric and a case of six body creams or petroleum jellies. No licence is needed for the personal goods of deceased estates, diplomats based abroad, returning residents with immigrant status, or returning residents who have lived continuously outside Zimbabwe for at least six months.

Importing or exporting in breach, making a false statement on an application, or selling a licence or permit is now an offence carrying a fine up to level twelve or up to a year's imprisonment, or both.