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Humanitarian Cargo to South Sudan
Relief cargo moves on the same roads as everything else, but it clears under a different set of rules. We handle the freight through to your field location, and we prepare and follow through the exemption file that decides whether it pays tax.
Who this is for
UN agencies, international and national NGOs, implementing partners, church and community organisations, and donors shipping in kind. If your organisation is registered to operate in South Sudan and you are moving programme supplies rather than commercial stock, this is the service.
What we move
- Medical supplies, pharmaceuticals, cold chain items and laboratory consumables
- WASH equipment, water treatment, tanks, pumps and pipes
- Shelter and non food items: tarpaulins, blankets, kitchen sets, mosquito nets
- Food commodities and nutrition supplies
- Programme vehicles, motorcycles, generators and plant
- IT, communications and office equipment for field operations
- Education and agricultural inputs
Some of these are regulated whoever is importing them. Medicines, food and anything with a lithium battery carry requirements that an exemption does not remove. See what we do not ship
Health programmes moving medicines, vaccines, diagnostics or equipment have a second layer of regulation on top of the exemption question, and so do livestock programmes.
The exemption, stated plainly
This is the part organisations most want certainty on, so here is exactly where the line sits.
What the rules provide. The Logistics Cluster's country guidance records that UN agencies and NGOs may be exempted from import duty, excise duty, VAT and customs warehouse rent on imports into South Sudan, provided the exemption procedure is followed.
Who grants it. An exemption is applied for at the South Sudan Customs Service unit within the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, and only the Minister can grant it. The Relief and Rehabilitation Commission has issued its own circular to the sector on tax exemption for humanitarian goods.
We cannot grant you an exemption and we will never promise one. What we can do is assemble the file properly, lodge it, chase it, and clear the cargo on whatever decision comes back. Any forwarder who guarantees you duty free entry before the Ministry has decided is telling you something they are not in a position to know.
Before you can apply at all
These are the organisation's credentials, and they have to exist before a consignment ships:
- An Operations Certificate from the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, the body that registers relief organisations
- Registration with the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development
- A Taxpayer Identification Number
- An import permit from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment where the goods require one. Permits are mandatory for medicines and medical products.
The application file
The exemption is requested on the Request for Non Diplomatic Exemptions from Taxes on Imports form, obtainable from the Exemptions unit of the South Sudan Customs Service in Juba, Nimule or Kaya. The supporting file is normally:
| Document | Who it comes from |
|---|---|
| Request for Non Diplomatic Exemptions from Taxes on Imports | The Exemptions unit |
| Cover letter on organisation letterhead | The NGO |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation cover letter | UN agencies only |
| Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning cover letter | MoFEP |
| Commercial or pro forma invoices | Supplier |
| Donation certificate, where the goods are donated | Donor |
| Transport documents, air waybill or bill of lading | Carrier |
| Packing list | Supplier |
| Certificate of origin | Supplier or chamber of commerce |
| Operations Certificate | RRC |
What comes out of it
Once processed, an exemption letter is issued and becomes part of the clearance file presented at customs and at border checkpoints. Without it in hand, the consignment is assessed like any other.
Get a quotation
Tell us what you are shipping
Send us the cargo description, weight or volume, and the pickup and delivery addresses. We reply with a written rate, the transit time and the documents you will need.
The Kenya side, which surprises people
Organisations often assume that because goods are donated, they move tax free everywhere along the route. That is not how it works, and the two countries are not the same.
For cargo in transit, Kenyan duties are not collected anyway. That is not an exemption, it is the transit regime: duty is suspended on condition that the goods are correctly declared, move under bond and actually leave. See transit cargo through Kenya
For anything entered in Kenya, including relief items bought from Kenyan suppliers, KRA's own guidance is blunt: there is no legal provision to grant an exemption on the basis that goods are donated, and taxes are due and payable. Relief cargo does tend to move on a lighter verification than commercial cargo, supported by a donation or non commercial certificate and a packing list.
The practical lesson: sort out where each exemption applies before you buy. Procuring locally in Kenya and procuring abroad for transit are different tax situations, and the cheaper quotation is not always the cheaper landed cost.
What we do, and what we do not
We do:
- Move the cargo from Nairobi, Mombasa or an overseas origin to Juba by road, air or container
- Deliver on to field locations across South Sudan, quoted per movement
- Prepare the exemption file, lodge it, and follow it through
- Handle the transit declaration and bond through Kenya and Uganda
- Clear the consignment into South Sudan on whatever decision is issued
- Keep the document trail your finance team and your donor will ask for
We do not:
- Grant, guarantee or accelerate an exemption. That decision is the Ministry's.
- Promise a clearance date. We will tell you what is realistic and what is outside anyone's control.
- Advise on your organisation's tax status. Take that to your own advisers or to the Ministry.
Plan for the delay, because it is documented
Delays in exemption processing and customs clearance are a known and reported constraint on humanitarian operations in South Sudan, not an occasional surprise.
What that means for a programme schedule:
- Start the exemption file when you raise the purchase order, not when the cargo lands.
- Do not let a distribution date depend on an exemption that has not been granted. If the timing is critical, price the consignment both ways and decide which risk you prefer.
- Build in the field leg. If the cargo is going on to Bentiu, Malakal or Kapoeta, the exemption has to be settled early enough that the onward movement still falls inside the road season you were counting on.
- Air is available, and it helps with the journey. We handle air freight for time sensitive consignments: outbreak response, a stockout at a field site, cold chain products that cannot take the road time. What it does not shorten is the clearance. Air shortens the journey, not the clearance, and flying a consignment in does not grant an exemption that has not been decided. Air versus road and sea
- Keep the file consistent. The commonest cause of a stalled exemption is a document set that disagrees with itself.
Documentation your donor will audit
Relief cargo gets looked at twice: once by customs and once by whoever funded it. We keep the chain intact so the second look is uneventful, and that includes evidence from the field rather than only from the border.
- Purchase order, invoice and proof of payment
- Donation certificate where the goods are gift in kind
- Packing list that matches the pieces actually shipped
- Transport documents, and a signed delivery note from the field location naming who received the consignment
- Photographs taken at the delivery point, and video of the offload where you need it
- The exemption application and the decision issued on it
- Customs entry, assessment and release documents
Beyond Juba, to the field
Juba is not where we stop. We deliver on to field locations across South Sudan, including Kapoeta, Torit, Bor, Bentiu, Malakal, Rumbek, Wau, Aweil, Yambio and Yei, and to smaller places than those where the route allows it.
That last clause matters, so here is the honest version of it. Field movement in South Sudan is not a fixed tariff the way the corridor to Juba is. Three things decide the route and the price, and they change through the year:
- Season. Roads that carry a trailer in the dry months will not carry one after sustained rain. The same destination can be a straightforward run in February and a different proposition entirely in August.
- Access. Some locations open and close. We will tell you the position when you ask, not what it was last quarter.
- The cargo itself. Weight, volume, and whether it can be transhipped onto a smaller vehicle for the final leg.
So we quote field movements per consignment rather than publishing a rate card for them. Give us the destination, the volume and the window you are working to, and we will tell you what is realistic and what it costs. Where a destination cannot be reached by road at that time of year, we will say so rather than take the booking and discover it later.
Tell us the final destination at quotation stage rather than once the cargo has reached Juba. Planning one movement from origin to field site is cheaper than planning two.
Related
- South Sudan customs clearance
- South Sudan import documents
- South Sudan import duties and taxes
- Certificate of Conformity
- Nimule border clearance
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Can you guarantee our cargo clears duty free?
No, and nobody honestly can. Exemption is granted by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning on an application, not by a freight forwarder. What we guarantee is that the file is prepared properly, lodged, and followed through, and that you are told where it stands.
Our goods are donated. Does that make them exempt?
Not by itself, and the answer differs by country. In South Sudan a donation certificate is part of the exemption file, not a substitute for the exemption. In Kenya, KRA states there is no legal provision to grant an exemption simply because goods are donated. Donated status helps your case; it does not decide it.
How long does the exemption take?
We will give you our honest expectation for your file, but we will not quote you a date. Delays in exemption processing are a documented constraint on humanitarian operations in South Sudan. Start the file when you raise the purchase order, and avoid tying a distribution date to a decision that has not been issued.
What do we need in place before shipping?
An RRC Operations Certificate, registration with the Ministry of Legal Affairs and Constitutional Development, a Taxpayer Identification Number, and an import permit from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment where the goods need one. Permits are mandatory for medicines and medical products. These are organisational credentials, so they need to exist before the cargo moves, not after it arrives.
Does an exemption remove the Certificate of Conformity requirement?
No. An exemption concerns tax. Standards and sector requirements are separate, and a Certificate of Conformity is obtained in the country of export before shipment where the goods are in scope. See Certificate of Conformity.
Can you deliver beyond Juba to our field sites?
Yes. We deliver on to field locations across South Sudan, including Kapoeta, Torit, Bor, Bentiu, Malakal, Rumbek, Wau, Aweil, Yambio and Yei. Field movements are quoted per consignment rather than from a rate card, because the season, the road and access conditions decide both the route and the price. Give us the destination at quotation stage and we will tell you what is realistic for that time of year.
Will you give us the documents our donor needs for audit?
Yes. Purchase and payment records, the donation certificate where applicable, the packing list, transport documents, signed delivery notes, the exemption application and decision, and the customs entry, assessment and release. We keep the chain intact because the second person to examine relief cargo is usually the one who funded it.
Before you rely on this page
This page is published as general guidance for people shipping cargo to South Sudan. It is not legal advice and it isn't customs advice. Duty rates, fees, permits and procedures are set by the authorities named above and they change. South Sudan sets its tax and duty rates in an annual Financial Act, so what applies to your goods depends on the date they are entered.
We don't publish duty rates, penalty amounts or clearance fees that we cannot tie to a current official source. Where a figure matters to your costing, confirm it with the relevant authority or ask us to check it for your specific goods and HS code before you ship.