HIGHLIGHTS

Secondhand vehicle imports

A ministerial order regulating the importation and reception of secondhand vehicles was signed on 27 July 2000 by the Minister of Transport and merchant navy.

Major aspects in this order include :

- secondhand vehicles must be at least six months old. To be imported in Gabon , a vehicle should not be older than four years starting from the date it was put into service for the first time. In this regard, the importer must produce several documents such as the purchase invoice, the declaration receipt as well as an expert's technical report issued in the country exporting the vehicle.

- Importers must have the status as traders, be regularly registered with the Ministry of Commerce and be liable to VAT and possess fixed premises. They are under the obligation to obtain an appraisal report from an expert registered in Gabon as well as a certificate of approval issued by the General Direction of land transports.

- Excluded from this Ministerial Order are individuals importing vehicles for domestic use only; though they are obliged to conform to technical inspection as stipulated by the Highway Code and can resell their vehicles only if it is older than six months.

This order was put into operation by the customs authorities in January 2001. Thenceforth, numerous secondhand vehicles were blocked by the customs services at Owendo because importers failed to comply with that ministerial order.

Besides, in order for the Division of Land Transport to fully enforce it, one unit of this administration together with a MOT centre are planned to be set up at the Port of Owendo.

Issuance of approval certificates for brand new vehicles

A ministerial order regulating the reception of vehicles in the A-B-C-D-E-F categories and defining methods for approving new vehicles was signed by the Minister of Transport and Merchant Navy on 5 December 2000.

It has to be noted that article 4 of this order states : "the importer or dealer running their business on the national territory must, every two years, place one vehicle of less than 3.5 tons from among the vehicles for demonstration at the disposal of the Ministry of Transport."

Getting a car registration certificate

From the early January 2001, the Estuaire Governor's office requested applicants of car registration certificates to produce customs papers - D42 and D3 - in original or copies certified true by the head clerk. Yet, due to the customs authorities' failure to meet such requirement before 13 February 2001, no vehicle could be registered prior to that date.