An amendment to the guidelines for independent vehicle imports was communicated to all Iranian vehicle importers last week, both commercial and private.
According to Donya-e-Eqtesad, the guidelines, which had been initially prepared six months ago, had come under criticism by official vehicle representatives.
The term "independent" refers to any legal or natural persons who do not have the rights to official vehicle representatives inside the country, yet are legally allowed to import vehicles into Iran.
The guidelines were drawn up jointly by Iran's Vehicle Importers Association, the Competition Council and the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade to sort out the problems facing independent importers in terms of providing after-sales services to their customers.
They indicate that all legal and natural persons may obtain an official representation from the parent company to provide after-sales services to customers. If that is not possible due to foreign limitations, they will have to negotiate a deal with legal representatives present in the country.
Independent importers will have to pay 3% of the worth of Cost, Insurance and Freight to the legal representative who will provide after-sales services to customers.
When the guidelines were first proposed in February 2014, official vehicle representatives objected and called for it to be raised to 7%, which was not agreed upon by the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade.
Farhad Ehteshamzad, the head of Iran's Vehicle Importers Association, recently announced, "The figures are final and the permit of any firm that violates the regulations will be revoked."
He added that after receiving the 3% worth of CIF, official representatives will have to provide after-sales services to customers for five years (150,000 kilometers) on behalf of independent importers.
Iran's National Standards Organization has also pushed for another clause that has been included in the amendment. European vehicles entering Iran must have a certificate of conformity.
The C-O-C must include the car's technical information, options available for the car and its emission standards.
Car import regulations in Iran remain one of the hot topics of debate for importers and non-importers alike. This is due to the varying nature of regulations that changes arbitrarily at any given time.
Case in point would be the imports of hybrid vehicles, which are supposedly exempt from duties due to their clean engines. However, upon sale, there prices have increased 100% like non-hybrid vehicles.
Many car buyers also complain about the manner in which car producers act with regard to after-sales services and customer complaints.
