When importing any kind of vehicles (small cars, buses, trucks, heavy machinery, trailers, or motorcycles), the following procedures and documents are required:

Import Custom Declaration;

passing Traffic Technical Inspections (Clearance Certificate must be included);

obtain Inspection Licence Plate from Traffic Department at the port which require the following:

Export License Plate,
a copy of the vehicle details prepared by the Customs Port,
vehicle insurance certificate,
Identification Card.

Importation Procedures and Customs Laws to Consider

1.Demurrage charges are accounted for when the vehicle is left at the Customs Ports Arena.

2.Customs duty is collected based on the invoice or the on valuation price by the Customs Official.

3.Vehicles may only be collected by the owner or an officially authorised party.

4.American made vehicles imported directly from the USA are exempted from customs duty.

5.Vehicles are exempted from customs duty in the case that a genuine reconciliation is available and is approximately equal to the invoice value or valuation price.

6.Owners or residents of the Kingdom of Bahrain are granted duty exemption once only on vehicles registered in the GCC countries and made on the year 1998 or earlier; transfer of ownership will not granted within the first year.

7.An authorisation certificate is required from the General Directorate of Traffic when importing four-wheel tractors and two-wheel motor cycles.

Notes

1.When importing through the sea port or air cargo, a delivery order, bill of lading and a clearance certificate must be included with the customs declaration; only then the General Directorate of Traffic can be approached to obtain and authorisation certificate.

2.Demurrage charges at the sea port are collected by the General Organisation of Sea Ports.