Pursuant to a Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) Memorandum, the Iraqi Minister of Trade has issued draft guidelines for the export of scrap metal.
The ministry wishes to regulate the current trade in scrap metal, encourage the development of cross-border trade and to create a system involving licensed exporters, who will bid for the right to export, and registered dealers who will gather the scrap. Licensed exporters may only buy from registered dealers. Only registered dealers may sell to licensed exporters.
Those who receive licenses to export and those who become registered dealers will be required to keep comprehensive records of all their transactions and to keep those records within Iraq and available at any time for audit by the Ministry.
It will be the responsibility of both exporters and dealers to prove the legality of their transactions. Any dealing in illicit or looted material will be subject to the cancellation of licenses/registrations.
The Ministry of Trade will accept applications for registration as a dealer from any company, currently registered in Iraq. In order to provide an advantage to the local economy and an immediate benefit to the people of Iraq, all companies wishing to register must be wholly or majority owned by Iraqi citizens in good standing. This restriction will cease from September 30, 2004 after which nationals of any country may register as dealers. The number of registered dealers may be limited to approximately 30, possibly allocated among different regions. — (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
