Exports are controlled primarily through the exercise of financial controls. In general, laws and regulations governing export trade are designed so that commodities that are in short supply, or which would otherwise have to be replaced by imports, may not be exported. Thus there is a standing prohibition against the export of gold and silver in bars, sheets, or coins; cattle, sheep, raw hides, charcoal, matches, butter, sugar, and tea. Also prohibited are exports of arms and ammunition, precious stones other than turquoise and pearls, and archeological articles. Only on rare occasions has the Government authorized the export of any or these commodities.
Decrees currently in effect permit the export of all other commodities without licensing procedure except those under Government monopoly, such as opium, oil and tobacco, and except wheat, flour, barley, legumes, rice, lumber and cotton. Depending on the availability of these last-named commodities, export quotas are established for them each year, and export licenses are issued by the Ministry of National Economy to private individuals or firms to the extent of the quotas established for each commodity.
The issuance of export licenses for lumber and cotton is subject to the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Iran Cotton Co. (an agency of the Plan Organization), respectively. The export of opium and tobacco, which are under Government monopoly, is subject to license of the Ministry of Finance.
Some Iranian exports are effected under barter or clearing agreements which Iran has concluded with a number of countries since 1940, including the U.S.S.R., the Federal German Republic, France, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Poland. Since quota lists under these agreements specify the commodities involved, exports made thereunder are in effect licensed by the agreements themselves.
Regulations promulgated on March 18, 1953, under the Law on the Encouragement of Exports and the Issuance of Licenses to Engage in Foreign Trade of December 22, 1952, require Iranian exporters to submit a preexport declaration, in which they inform the Ministry of National Economy of their intention to export stated commodities to stated destinations. One copy of this declaration is certified by the Ministry and must be returned to the exporter within 48 hours. A second copy goes to the Customs Administration for use in inspecting the goods when they actually leave the country.
Transit Controls
Goods having in transit through Iran may enter and leave the country only at places where customs houses have been established for that purpose. Detailed documentation is required by Iranian customs authorities for goods in transit. In practice, there are very few intransit shipments through Iran.
The reexport of specified goods of foreign origin is permitted under a decree of November 11, 1953, which lists five categories of goods eligible for reexport. Reexport of such goods, however, requires the prior approval of a commission established in the Ministry of National Economy, with representatives from a number of other Government departments. Prior to this decree, reexport, of imported goods was permissible only by decree of the Council of Ministers, which rarely considered reexport cases. The new procedure represents a more workable machinery for the licensing of reexports. It should at the same time provide adequate safeguards against the reexport of strategic items.
Financial Controls
Exporters of Iranian goods must sign an undertaking that the exchange derived from the export will be sold to a bank authorized by the Government to deal in foreign exchange.