Customs agent licensing in the DRC

Who approves customs agents in the DRC

The Direction Generale des Douanes et Accises (DGDA) approves customs agents ¹. The DGDA calls an approved customs commissionnaire a company whose profession is to complete customs formalities for goods declarations, on its own account and for others ². In practice they are called declarants or transitaires ².

The Customs Code was set by Ordinance Law No. 10/002 of 20 August 2010 ⁴. Article 7 says a person who declares goods for another may only be represented by an approved customs commissionnaire, and the representative must be established in the DRC ⁴. The DGDA page cites articles 116 point 2 and 117 of the Customs Code and articles 26, 35 and 36 of Ministerial Order No. 016 of 11 April 2011 as the legal basis for approval ¹.

The Director General of Customs grants approval and may withdraw it for a period or for good ¹. Approval is personal to the company and must cover each natural person authorised to represent it ¹.

Documents for approval

The DGDA lists these items for the approval file ¹.

• A certified copy of the articles of incorporation, or the official gazette extract containing the statutes ¹.
• Certified copies of registration in the New Trade Register, the National Identification Number and the Tax Number ¹.
• Where applicable, a valid tax status certificate for the company and its managers ¹.
• Minutes of an extraordinary general meeting naming the persons who can bind the company, if the statutes do not name them ¹.
• Proof of identity, education, work experience and integrity of the main managers. Foreign nationals add an establishment visa and a DRC work permit ¹.
• A declaration that the managers have never run a clearing company whose approval was withdrawn for its management ¹.
• Proof of suitable offices and IT equipment, with the ability to connect remotely to customs IT systems ¹.
• A signed declaration giving customs access to the company accounts and IT systems, and a signed IT security charter ¹.
• A guarantee set by customs, lodged before operations start ¹.

Bank bonds

After approval the company lodges a bank bond (cautionnement bancaire) ¹. The amount depends on the goods it will declare ¹.

How to apply and how long it takes

Applicants write to the Director General of Customs and Excise, with a copy to the Direction des Affaires Juridiques et Contentieuses ¹. The DGDA address is Place Royal, boulevard du 30 juin, Kinshasa Gombe ¹. The DGDA lists [email protected] as its email ^1,2.

The DGDA gives no fixed processing time ¹. It says the time depends on the document review, an inspection of the premises and the schedule of the committee that handles approvals ¹. The DGDA page does not list an application fee, a validity period or renewal rules ¹.

Customs gives each approved company a number recorded in a register kept by the Direction des Affaires Juridiques et Contentieuses ¹.

Liability and the public list

Where a commissionnaire prepares a declaration, the DGDA says it is liable for omissions, inaccuracies and other irregularities in it ¹. Under article 46 of the Customs Code, customs may inspect accounting records, registers and approval documents held by commissionnaires and freight forwarders ⁴.

The DGDA publishes a list of approved commissionnaires as a PDF ³. The version on its site is dated 16 December 2021 ³. On 5 July 2024 the DGDA published a communique titled Digitalisation de la gestion des commissionnaires en douane ⁵.