Algeria is tightening the screw again to fight against anarchic imports, in a context of depletion of its foreign exchange reserves, due to the fall in oil prices.
The new conditions are contained in an executive decree governing the import activities of raw materials, products and goods for resale as is, which was published on Thursday, March 18 in the Official Journal.
“The commercial companies concerned are required to subscribe, as the case may be, to one of the specifications setting the conditions and commitments of the parties linked to the exercise of the activity of importing raw materials, products and goods intended for resale as it stands ”, specifies the text.
The first specification defines the conditions for carrying out unregulated activities, and the second concerns regulated activities.
According to the decree, the activities of importing raw materials, products and goods intended for resale as they are, are “carried out on the basis of extracts from the electronic commerce register bearing homogeneous activity codes falling under a only sub-group of groups of import activities included in the nomenclature of economic activities subject to entry in the trade register ”.
Among the conditions set for importers, the obligation to “have an appropriate and genuinely operated head office, with a precise address and equipped with means of communication. ”
“Affected commercial companies must clearly place at the entrance to their headquarters, a sign bearing their name, address and telephone number, in Arabic and another language, if applicable,” according to the text.
These companies must also have “the appropriate storage and distribution infrastructure, adapted according to the nature, volume and requirements for the storage and protection of the goods, the object of their activity. ”
Present an annual import program
They must “justify the recruitment of at least two employees”, and their activity requires it, “to have adequate means of transport, in full ownership or in rental, compatible with the nature and specificity of the products and goods imported. ”
Another condition: the commercial companies “concerned cannot import products which are not marketed in their country of origin due to their non-compliance. They are also obliged to “grant a guarantee and provide after-sales service” for their products, according to the text.
They must “provide the departments of commerce of wilayas with territorial jurisdiction, an annual forecast import program”, and “provide, every six months, to the services of the departments of commerce of wilayas with territorial jurisdiction, statistics concerning the state of sales. and the quantities in stock. ”
Importers “must ensure that the necessary measures are taken to control the conformity of imported products and goods, so that they comply with technical or regulatory specifications and Algerian standards in force or, failing that, with international standards. In the absence of international standards, the standards of the country of origin or, failing that, the country of origin are used. “
