Iraq Import Clearance: What Changed in 2026

Umm Qasr, Basra and Erbil all updated their inspection regimes this year. Here's what importers need to prepare before cargo lands.

Iraq tightened pre-shipment inspection requirements in early 2026, particularly for electronics, cosmetics and food-contact goods. Cargo without a valid Certificate of Conformity is now held at Umm Qasr until documentation is completed — historically that meant demurrage costs adding up quickly.

For overland shipments from Turkey and Jordan into Erbil and Baghdad, transit paperwork and TIR carnets remain the fastest route. Shipboxy's Iraq team pre-clears documents before the truck reaches the border to keep dwell time under 24 hours where possible.

The takeaway: prepare CoC, HS codes and Arabic-language product labels before cargo leaves origin. Retro-fixing at the port is always more expensive.