Licensed Qatar clearing agent
Freight gets cargo to the border. Clearing it is a separate job.
This is where shipments actually stall — missing paperwork, a wrong HS code, an invoice that is not stamped. We file the declaration ourselves, through Al Nadeeb, from the same cargo lines your quote was built from.
Documents to have ready
- Commercial invoiceOn letterhead, stamped and signed
- Packing listPieces, weight and volume per line
- Certificate of originWhere the goods were made
- Commercial registration (CR)The importer's Qatar CR
- Import licenceWhere the goods call for one
Proof of competence
The three things that decide whether a declaration goes through
Every figure here is a rule of the trade, not a claim about us — which means you can check each one before you hand us a consignment.
12digits
Length of an HS code today
The tariff moved to twelve-digit codes on 1 January 2025. An eight-digit code — the one on older paperwork and in most importers' records — is no longer sufficient on a declaration.
GCC Integrated Customs Tariff, since 1 January 2025.
Al Nadeeb
Where declarations are filed
Qatar customs clears through one window, and a declaration reaches it through a licensed clearing agent. We are one, so filing is not something you are left to work out.
The General Authority of Customs single-window system.
Estimate
What any duty figure is until it is filed
We calculate an expected duty from your cargo, its HS code and its value. The Authority assesses the real one on the declaration we file. Anyone quoting you a binding duty figure in advance is quoting something they do not control.
Duty is assessed by the General Authority of Customs on the declaration.
What to prepare
The documents a Qatar import declaration needs
Have these ready before your cargo arrives. A consignment that reaches the border without them sits there until they are produced, accruing storage while it waits.
Commercial invoice
On company letterhead, stamped and signed. An emailed price list or a plain PDF invoice is not sufficient — this is the document the declared value is taken from.
Packing list
Stating pieces, weight and volume for every line of the shipment. This is the same data your freight quote is built from, which is why the two are quoted together here.
Certificate of origin
Confirms where the goods were manufactured. Origin is what decides which tariff treatment a consignment is entitled to.
Commercial registration (CR)
The importer's Qatar commercial registration. The declaration is filed against a registered importer, not against a shipment on its own.
Import licence
Required where the goods being imported call for one. Whether yours do depends on what they are, so it is worth settling before the cargo ships rather than after it lands.
HS codes
Eight digits are no longer enough
The classification on the declaration decides the duty rate, and the number of digits it needs changed at the start of 2025.
How a code is read
240220900000
- 1–2
- Chapter — What kind of thing it is
- 3–4
- Heading — Narrower — this is usually where the rate is set
- 5–6
- Subheading — The international code ends here
- 7–12
- Tariff detail — Added by the GCC tariff beyond the international code
The old code stopped after 8 digits. Since 1 January 2025 the GCC Integrated Customs Tariff runs to 12, and the 8-digit codes still sitting in most importers' product records are no longer sufficient on a declaration.
Which digits set the rate
240220900000
100% — Tobacco and manufactured tobacco substitutes
Resolved on the first 2 digits.
220830000000
100% — Spirits and liqueurs
Resolved on the first 4 digits.
847130000000
5% — HS code not recognised — general rate applied as a fallback
What changed on 1 January 2025
HS codes under the GCC Integrated Customs Tariff run to twelve digits. The eight-digit codes still sitting in most importers' product records are no longer sufficient for a declaration.
Why it is worth getting right first
The code is what the duty rate hangs off. Classify at the wrong level and the declaration is either rejected or assessed against something your cargo is not.
How clearance runs
Documents in, declaration filed, duty assessed
Three steps, and the cargo lines from your quote carry into the declaration rather than being re-keyed.
You send the documents
The invoice, packing list, certificate of origin, CR and — where the goods need one — the import licence. Have them ready before the cargo arrives.
We file the declaration
Through Al Nadeeb, Qatar customs’ single-window system, as a licensed clearing agent, using your documents and the cargo details from your quote.
Customs assesses the duty
The General Authority of Customs assesses the actual duty on the declaration we filed. That assessment, not the estimate on your quote, is the number that is payable.
Before anything is filed
17 checks run against your declaration. Any one of them failing stops it — nothing is lodged half-complete and corrected afterwards.
You, and our authority to act
Filing is a licensed activity. These establish that you may import and that we may lodge on your behalf.
- Commercial Registration number
- Import licence
- Customs client code
- A customs authorisation exists
- It names us, not another broker
- It has not expired
- Its expiry is a real date
The consignment
What is moving, which way, through where, and classified well enough for a rate to be assessed against it.
- Import or export
- The gateway it crosses at
- At least one cargo line
- Every line has an HS code
- Each one is twelve digits
- Country of origin per line
- Declared value per line
The paperwork
The documents Qatar customs requires to exist before the declaration is accepted.
- Commercial invoice
- Certificate of origin
- Packing list
Quoted prices are estimates in QAR. Duty is assessed by the General Authority of Customs on the declaration we file, so any duty figure shown beforehand is an estimate rather than a final number.
Start here
See the duty before you commit to the freight
Enter your cargo once and get a freight price alongside an estimated duty, from the same details the declaration will be filed on.