Ministry of Trade has put in place a new directive that regulates the loads of agricultural and manufactured products air passengers can carry in flight, according to Addis Ababa.

Coffee, ground red pepper (berbere), spices, roasted and ground peas (shiro), teff flour, clarified butter, roasted barley (qolo), honey, traditional clothes, traditional footwear and non-traditional footwear are the products the directive listed for quantification.

Directive 008/2007 was issued by the Ministry of Trade (MoT) in June 2015. And the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA) started implementing it soon afterwards. The directive was needed to limit illegal trade and encourage legal businesses, the Ministry stated.

The directive permits passengers to carry raw, roasted or ground coffee. People flying more than once in three months, are allowed to carry one kilogram on each flight. People flying for work for a short or long time can carry a maximum of two kilograms, while people living abroad and returning after a stay in Ethiopia can carry three kilograms individually or five kilograms per family.

For other products, the maximum allowed is 10 kilograms for berbere and shiro, eight kilos for qolo, five kilograms each for spices, teff flour, and clarified butter and three kilograms for honey. These are for passengers making not more than one out-bound flight in three months. For the rest, the limit varies from two to five kilograms, according to the type of product, whereas these frequent passengers cannot take teff flour with them.

For traditional clothes, traditional footwear and non-traditional footwear, people flying not more than once in three months can take up to 15 pieces, 10 pairs, and five pairs respectively. Other passengers can take five pieces of traditional clothes, five pairs of traditional footwear and two pairs of non-traditional footwear, respectively.

MoT should hand out a support letter for applicants who wish to participate in exhibitions and bazaars if samples are required for such events. Applicants must specify the time, place of event, the type and quantity of the samples in their applications to MoT.

According to Abdurrahman Seid, Deputy Public Relations Head at MoT, there was no clear way of controlling the outflow of products ahead of this directive.

Source: Addis Fortune