Customs & compliance
Documents Required to Import into South Sudan
A working checklist. Get these right before the goods move and clearance is routine; get them wrong and no amount of expediting at the border will fix it.
The core set
Commercial invoice
The foundation of the entry. It must show the seller, the buyer, a clear description of the goods, quantities, unit prices, the total, the currency and the terms of sale. The value declared here is the starting point for customs valuation under the Customs Service Act.
Make it match reality. An invoice that doesn't reflect what was actually paid is the single most common cause of a valuation query.
Packing list
Every piece, its contents, its weight and its dimensions, with marks and numbers that match what is physically on the cargo. This is the document a customs officer holds while looking at your goods during examination.
Transport document
The bill of lading for sea freight, the air waybill for air, or the road consignment note. For sea freight this is the document of title: the named consignee is who can take delivery. Check the consignee details before the document is issued, not after.
Certificate of origin
States where the goods were produced. Required for many consignments, and essential wherever origin affects treatment. Note that origin means where the goods were made, not where you bought them or which port they left from. This catches out buyers who purchase Chinese goods through a Dubai trading company.
Customs declaration (form C17)
The entry itself. Form C17 is the customs declaration form in South Sudanese practice and appears throughout the official procedure listings maintained by the Ministry of Trade and Industry. It is lodged through the National Revenue Authority's customs system.
Importer registration and TIN
Not a shipping document, but required for the entry to be made in your name. The National Revenue Authority publishes the documents needed to register.
Import licence, where applicable
Licensing requirements are set out in the Imports and Exports Act, 2012, which provides for general import licensing and for the treatment of restricted goods.
Conditional documents
Certificate of Conformity (PVoC)
Required for goods within the scope of South Sudan's pre-export verification of conformity programme, and obtained in the country of export before shipment.
This one cannot be fixed later. If the goods are in scope and the certificate was not obtained before shipment, you have a problem that paperwork at the border won't solve.
Full detail on the Certificate of Conformity
Sector permits
Depending on the goods: pharmaceutical and food authorisations under the Drug and Food Control Authority Act , phytosanitary or fumigation certificates for agricultural products, and approvals specific to the product for regulated categories. The Trade Information Hub lists the procedure for many specific product categories.
Transit documents
Where the goods have moved through Kenya and Uganda under a transit regime, the transit declaration and bond documentation form part of the chain. See transit cargo through Kenya
A practical checklist
Before the goods leave the supplier:
- [ ] Importer registered with the NRA and TIN in hand
- [ ] Import licence obtained, if the goods require one
- [ ] PVoC scope checked, and certification arranged if required
- [ ] Sector permits identified and applied for
- [ ] HS codes agreed, so you know the duty position before you commit
- [ ] Consignee details confirmed for the transport document
Before the goods are sealed:
- [ ] Invoice matches the actual transaction and the payment evidence
- [ ] Packing list matches the actual pieces and the physical marks
- [ ] Certificate of origin reflects true country of manufacture
- [ ] Copies of everything sent electronically, not only in the cargo
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.
Keep the documents consistent
Most document problems are not missing papers. They are papers that disagree with each other: an invoice quantity that differs from the packing list, a description that doesn't match the HS code, a consignee name spelled three different ways. Customs notices, and resolving it takes days.
Before you ship, lay the documents side by side and check that the same consignee, the same description, the same quantities and the same values appear on all of them.
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.