• Conditions:

1.    The public warehouse shall be surrounded with a fence at all sides, and shall have special entrances and gates which are supervised by the customs.

2.    The public warehouse shall have adequate areas and facilities to allow for customs procedures to be completed.

3.    The public warehouse shall meet the necessary security requirements.

4.    The public warehouse shall be fitted with all services, equipment and general safety requirements.

5.    The public warehouse shall be specially equipped to accommodate goods of special nature (i.e. to be fitted with cooling systems if the goods need to be refrigerated, etc.).

6.    The customs office to supervise the warehouse shall be designated.

7.    At the request of the of the investor and subject to the approval of the customs, the warehouse may be expanded or altered by increasing or removing some of the installations therein, provided the respective above controls shall be observed.

8.    Prior to commencement of work, the investor shall submit a cash security or bank guarantee covering the customs taxes 'duties' and any other allowances , services or fines, if any, applicable to the goods deposited in the public warehouse. The customs office will determine the amount of such cash security or bank guarantee based on the value of the goods in the warehouse.  

9.    The investor shall provide necessary offices for the customs office's employees, to be adequately furnished and fitted within the customs area.

10.  Goods that may not be deposited with the private warehouses:

1. Prohibited goods notified in relevant lists.
2. Explosives, arms, ammunition and similar materials, unless the warehouse is licensed to keep them by the competent authorities.
3. Radioactive substances.
4.   Internationally or locally prohibited goods or those subject to international agreements and conventions and local laws in force, as well as imitated and counterfeited goods or those not conforming to applicable standards or IPRs, may not be deposited with the warehouses.
5. All kinds of narcotics.
6. Goods originated in countries economically boycotted.
7. Goods in bulk state, unless the warehouse is designed for kind of goods.
8. Damaged, corrupt or expired goods.
9. Any other goods as determined by the customs administration.

11.  Subject to the provisions of paragraph (h) above, goods deposited with the private warehouses shall be allowed to remain therein for a period of 365 days, to be renewable for similar periods not to exceed three years. The payable customs duties shall be paid upon expiry of that period. 

12.  Goods deposited with the customs warehouses in the GCC States under an import declaration may enter the customs warehouse (deposited), while the goods may exit the warehouse under the customs procedure to be applied to the goods, to be accompanied by all relevant documents after obtaining approval of the warehouse to which the goods is dispatched under a cash security or bank guarantee equivalent to the amount of the customs duties to be levied.

13.  The competent customs authority shall have the right to examine the goods according to the provisions of the GCC Common customs Law.

14.  Should a discrepancy be found between the goods deposited in the warehouse and those described in the customs declaration and the attached documents, a report is to be signed by the investor and the owner of the goods or his representative or the authorized customs broker and the competent customs officer. Such report shall be forwarded to the director of the competent customs office to take necessary actions accordingly.

15.  Ownership of the deposited goods shall revert to the persons in whose names the customs declaration is completed.

16.  Subject to controls (15) and (24) herein, Ownership of the deposited goods or any part thereof may be transferred from the original owner to other persons, subject to the requirements below:

1. Approval of the investor.
2. Approval of the competent customs office.
3. Registering the goods in the name of the new owner whereby all subsequent obligations shall transfer to the new owner from the date of approval.
4. Observing paragraph 10 (d).

17.  The competent customs officers shall have the right to access the warehouse for performing their duties and may request the owner of the warehouse to relocate the goods within the warehouse or rearrange them if necessary.

18.  The owners of the goods or their legal representatives or the authorized customs broker may access the public warehouses to examine their goods in presence of the competent customs officer and the investor's representative.

19.  Owners of the goods or their representatives  shall have the right to take samples of the goods when necessary, subject to the approval and supervision of the customs office, provided they are cleared under applicable customs procedures.

20.  Customs clearance shall be permitted for the goods stored in the public warehouses under proper customs declarations and for all customs procedures according to the provisions of the GCC Common Customs Law.

21.  Imported goods may be split in partial shipments provided such splitting does not cause loss of customs revenues.

22.  The owners of the goods or their legal representatives, subject to the approval of the Director of the Customs office, shall have the right to arrange, sort or pack the goods or carry out any other necessary action to keep them and render them ready for sale, provided such measures do not cause loss of customs revenues.

23.  In the event the goods are not taken out from the warehouses within the specified time, they shall be subject to the provisions of the GCC Common Customs Law and the relevant instructions issued in this respect.

24.  Goods that are abandoned by the owner in writing, subject to the approval of the customs office, may be sold in auction according to the provisions of the GCC Common Customs Law and the relevant instructions issued in this respect.

25.  The goods that are deposited in the public warehouses , whose owners or source are not verified including residues and packing residues of a commercial value shall be treated as shown in paragraph 24  above.

26.  The investor shall submit a monthly statement of the goods whose deposit period set forth in control (11) has expired. 

27.  Should the goods be damaged, the owner of the goods, his representative or the authorized customs broker may ask the customs office to finalize the respective customs procedures based on the value of goods in the state at the time of registering the customs declaration according to Article (18) of the Common Customs Law. A committee composed of representatives of the customs office, a customs valuation specialist, the investor or the owner of the goods is to be formed in order to record the fact and identify the damage percentage, then to determine the value of the goods according to Article (61) of the Common Customs Law. However, if a customs declaration was previously registered, relevant procedures shall be completed as stated in the customs declaration. Such procedure applies to the goods existing in the customs area, the warehouses or any other place under customs supervision.

28.  Should a damage is caused to the goods, after the goods have entered the warehouse, due to negligence or default by the investor or the owner of the goods, the customs duties shall be levied based on the value of the goods on the day they have entered the warehouse.

29.  Subject to the provisions of customs smuggling, if the goods in the warehouse are lost for whatsoever reason, the investor shall pay the customs duties in full, as well as the other costs, expenses, service fees and fines according to the provisions of the GCC Common Customs Law.

30.  The Director General or the director of the licensing department, may suspend, cancel or re-license the warehouse that was previously licensed, according to the provisions of the GCC Common Customs Law.

31.  The investor shall pay the licensing fees and the annual licensing fees as determined by the customs office.

• Procedures:

1. The customs declaration may not be registered unless after the investor has accepted to deposit the goods. Registration of the customs declaration is deemed as approval of the customs office of depositing the goods in the public warehouse.
2. The automated customs declaration shall be completed by the owner of the goods, his representative or the authorized customs broker.
3. The investor shall testify that the goods have been deposited in the public warehouse.
4.  The investor shall keep records containing all documentation and information concerning the deposited and outgoing goods according to the customs declarations. Such records shall be maintained for five years.