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  • Jomrok / customs duty in Lebanon

Hey guys,

So a few months back, I bought some stuff from Amazon US by using Borderlinx just to see if it works or not. It worked and it was delivered to my home by DHL.

Now I'm willing to buy a kinda expensive Laptop (1050$) from Amazon, but my question is, is there a limit on how much I can spend before it get locked at the " Jomrok " ? Because I've heard that if it reaches an amount, I will need a " Transitaire " to be able to get it out from the Jomrok.

I'm Sorry if I'm not clear enough with my question, please do ask for more explanations if you didn't understand.

Thanks for any help.
Makozak :)
Acer Helios 300?
And the amount is 1000$+ as far as I know. You will need extra papers and additional fees which gets expensive.
Contact DHL and double check, last time I checked anything with a value above 900$ needs formal clearance, and in rare occasions customs may hold an item and require you to clear it formally (happened twice with me in the past 5 years, I had a shipment that is worth 200$ and customs confiscated it and I had to pay around 250$ clearance / tax / vat).
Georges00 wroteAcer Helios 300?
And the amount is 1000$+ as far as I know. You will need extra papers and additional fees which gets expensive.
Yeah it's the Helios 300, and I will pay at max 100$ more which is still way less than Lebanon. The lowest I found here was 1500$
Aly wroteContact DHL and double check, last time I checked anything with a value above 900$ needs formal clearance, and in rare occasions customs may hold an item and require you to clear it formally (happened twice with me in the past 5 years, I had a shipment that is worth 200$ and customs confiscated it and I had to pay around 250$ clearance / tax / vat)
You payed 250$ just to clear your package ? or is it transport and everything else included ?
Yes i paid 250$ clearance and taxes for a 200$ package without shipping, it was crazy and unfair but it only occurrd twice during 5 years of ordering stuff drom the US.
Anyway check the below from DHL they include it in every email they send usually (in the signature):
/// If the total invoice value is above 800 USD (or require an approval from any ministry) a formal clearance will occur and the Delivery order (70,000 L.L.), DHL clearance charges (115,000L.L. or 322,500 L.L. depending on the value of the items) , 10% V.A.T. from the invoice value and a specific % for customs. (Medicine for example need approval from the ministry of health, whether the value is 1$ or 1000$, It is subject to formal clearance i.e. a delivery order is issued and a broker should be appointed) \\
That's very expensive but at least we know what to expect, with DHL at least.
I wonder if there are other companies with different clearance charges, and how different they would be.
Thank you for the useful post, Aly.
You're most welcome :)
7 days later
Watch out guys:
Don't order any cell phone online anymore, unless you know what you're up to.
There's a new law that forbids foreign phones to work on our network, unless you register the IMEI and pay the customs fees.
I had to run in a 1 week hassle, going from airport warehouses (customs), to Libanpost at the airport, to the ministry of telecommunications, back to the airport warehouses then to libanpost.
For a phone costing around 130$, I had to pay around 45$ additional, between customs fees, parkings, libanpost fees, let alone the hassle, traffic, loss of time, anger, leaving work for some hours, fuel, etc...
So watch out.
LifeEngineer wroteWatch out guys:
Don't order any cell phone online anymore, unless you know what you're up to.
There's a new law that forbids foreign phones to work on our network, unless you register the IMEI and pay the customs fees.
I had to run in a 1 week hassle, going from airport warehouses (customs), to Libanpost at the airport, to the ministry of telecommunications, back to the airport warehouses then to libanpost.
For a phone costing around 130$, I had to pay around 45$ additional, between customs fees, parkings, libanpost fees, let alone the hassle, traffic, loss of time, anger, leaving work for some hours, fuel, etc...
So watch out.
Since when did they enable it again? I gifted a person a phone which I bought in Dubai and it's working fine.
MrClass wrote Since when did they enable it again? I gifted a person a phone which I bought in Dubai and it's working fine.
It'll be enabled in February.
Every phone that was activated on the network before that date is good to go.
But I dunno why they started hassling us (online shipping) with all that since now while we could have gotten the phone and started using it. Really stupid.
LifeEngineer wrote Really stupid.
Anything that makes market mafia's life easier, and consumer's harder. Is not stupid for our dear customs.

But I'd like to ask a question. From a technical perspective, how can they make a foreign phone not work on our network?
What's the definition of a "foreign phone". Unless they open the box of every phone sold in Lebanon, I cannot see that feasible. They need to identify the phone. And I doubt foreign counties would collaborate on this stupid endeavor. I'm having a hard time explaining my question, but simply put, I don't think our carriers can technically do that, can they? Does anyone know how it would work?

From a legal/ethical perspective. Since when is asking people for their IMEIs even legal? Aren't we protected by laws from outside Lebanon that our country signed for*? This is madness!

*I know there are some international laws our country signed for, like peace and whatnot. Is there one for technology and stuff?
Yeah man @vlatkozelka!
It's basically IMEI tracking and binding it to the sim cards!

Theoretically, each legal device, by each company/importer, should have its IMEI registered in the database!
Technically, I don't think this is impossible to do! An automation/batch system may be able to do it! It's not by opening each phone but rather by declaring the IMEIs of imported phones even before they come! This can be done by the company/party sending it to you actually and packaging the whole thing.

"Illegal" devices, or in other terms, devices with IMEIs inexistent in that database of registered IMEIs will be simply blocked to access the network. Also technically easily feasible.
LifeEngineer wroteYeah man @vlatkozelka!
It's basically IMEI tracking and binding it to the sim cards!

Theoretically, each legal device, by each company/importer, should have its IMEI registered in the database!
Technically, I don't think this is impossible to do! An automation/batch system may be able to do it! It's not by opening each phone but rather by declaring the IMEIs of imported phones even before they come! This can be done by the company/party sending it to you actually and packaging the whole thing.

"Illegal" devices, or in other terms, devices with IMEIs inexistent in that database of registered IMEIs will be simply blocked to access the network. Also technically easily feasible.
So my first theory is correct? They are registering every single device's IMEI that passes through customs ?! wtf

Well at least I got mine in a friend's pocket as a personal item.

Ironically, the news complain about tags in the new car license plates. While our gov has much more effective ways to spy on us.
So is Amhaz going to close shop because of this? Or will he still be able to register, in one way or another, the IMEIs of the phones he sells?
Xsever wroteSo is Amhaz going to close shop because of this? Or will he still be able to register, in one way or another, the IMEIs of the phones he sells?
If anything he'll be stronger cause of this. Amhaz has good connections with customs. I doubt something like registering IMEI will weaken his business.

Other smaller competitors will be weakened more, since all phones are imported