Organizations intending to import goods into Mali must provide documentation. When citizenship documentation and a certificate of good conduct are presented, the necessary paperwork can typically be obtained within one day. Companies who want to import must provide documentation of their legal corporate status.
Pesticides that are not permitted or accredited may not be imported. Vegetable products must be imported with an import permit and a phytosanitary certificate. Foodstuffs, animal feed, and food additives must have marketing authorization before being imported.
Import tariffs
Mali’s tax policy distinguishes between intra-regional trade (characterized by a system of preferential tariffs between regional partners) and extra-regional trade. Mali is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (subject to the regime of Common External Tariffs or CET). Mali levies taxes on imports, including necessities, inputs or intermediate goods, and consumer goods, with progressive tax rates. Mali is a member of the WAEMU. No one is treated differently based on where they were born. Mali offers tax incentives to encourage the import of solar and renewable energy technology. Low tax rates are especially advantageous for cultural products like books. Following the signing of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, Mali joined a large number of other African nations in adopting a draft bill to raise import tariffs by 0.2% to be paid by non-African Union nations to contribute to the support of the African Union’s budget (AfCFTA).
Trade barriers
Mali has had an open economic strategy that has fostered foreign commerce and investment for the majority of the last 30 years, despite the transitional administration temporarily banning the export of some crops earlier this year in response to ECOWAS sanctions. In 1994, the Mali government lowered or eliminated import levies on a wide range of products, though it has since selectively reinstated some taxes here. Since January 2000, the WAEMU External Common Tariff (TEC) has been in effect. In January 2015, ECOWAS created its own TEC. Mali’s government repealed export tariffs in 1990, except for a 3% tax on cotton and gold exports. Mali’s transitional legislative body, the National Transition Council (CNT), established a new customs legislation in May to replace the one in existence since 2001. The new code intends to streamline operations and implement some international best practices and protocols, such as the Bali Package trade facilitation agreement from 2013, the Kyoto convention on simplification and harmonization of customs procedures from 1999, and other WAEMU standards. To boost Mali’s economic competitiveness and diversification, the transitional administration developed a three-year national policy for export development in June. This strategy tries to take advantage of numerous economic accords, commercial favors, and customs unions.
Foreign enterprises can invest and trade freely. Unrestricted home-country money or profit transfers. Industry or product dictates non-tariff norms. The US Embassy suggests that American enterprises contact the DNCC for information on importing and exporting a product.
Customs regulations
A customs union was founded in January 2000 by WAEMU member states. The World Trade Organization ordered the Mali government to approve a decree in early 2003 enabling customs valuation on the transactional worth of commodities (WTO). To streamline processes and take into account international conventions and protocols, including the Kyoto convention of 1999 on the simplification and harmonization of customs procedures, the Bali Package of 2013, and other WAEMU requirements, the GoM approved a law in 2018 that modified the 2001 customs code. The transition’s legislative body approved the new customs code in June, but it has yet to go into effect.
