Oman Member profile
No notifications submitted by Oman
Trade policy review
Latest Trade Policy Review (Report by the WTO Secretariat): WT/TPR/S/418/Rev.1
A. Import prohibitions and restrictions and import licensing
3.27.
Under the GCC Common Customs Law, each GCC member State determines its own list of prohibited or restricted products, although members are developing a common list. Imports that are prohibited in some GCC member States and permitted in others can only be imported from the latter and must not transit through the States in which they are prohibited.
3.28.
Oman has yet to provide a list of import prohibitions and restrictions according to the 2012 Decision on Notification Procedures for Quantitative Restrictions.[108]
3.29.
Oman operates import prohibitions for reasons of human, plant, and animal health; public morals; environment; and security. They cover, inter alia, narcotics, weapons, certain media products, and several country-specific animal products (Table 3.6). Oman is a participant in the Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes, the Rotterdam Convention on Trade in Hazardous Chemicals, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, the Montreal Protocol, and CITES, among others.[109]
3.30.
Since its last Review in 2014, Oman has added several items to its list of prohibited imports: palm trees and coconut trees, asbestos goods and products, private vehicles older than seven years, pirated decoders, some dog breeds, and e-cigarettes and e-shishas.
3.31.
In recent years, Oman has lifted bans on imports of livestock from South Africa[110]; poultry products from Austria, Cambodia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Ghana, Greece, several Indian States, Italy, Cte d'Ivoire, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Republic of North Macedonia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Togo, and Zimbabwe[111]; live birds from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Kenya, Poland, Romania, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, the state of South Carolina (United States), Ukraine, Viet Nam, the state of Virginia (United States)[112]; animal products and feed from Belgium[113]; and tilapia fish from Mexico.[114]
3.32.
Oman's import restrictions cover, inter alia, live animals, food products, and tobacco chemical products; they are applied for safety, moral, and health reasons (Table 3.7). Goods subject to these restrictions must be accompanied by certificates from the relevant authorities.
B. Export prohibitions and restrictions
3.41.
Oman prohibits exports of antiques, ancient manuscripts, and Maria Theresa thalers (historic rials). Export restrictions apply to date palms and seedlings[129], and to specific species of fish and molluscs in cases of over-exploitation, notably during breeding seasons.[130] Ministerial Decisions No. 395/2019 and No. 134/2020 also prohibited the export of raw marble and Omani goat and sheep breeds respectively. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the Directorate General of Pharmacy and Drug Control banned the export of masks and hand sanitizers.[131] In addition, export permits are needed for locally mined or quarried products.
3.42.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources announced in April 2020 that exporters of livestock should get a permit from the Ministry and enclose a copy of the import permit for livestock from the importing country.[132]
WTO's environmental database (EDB)
The EDB contains environment-related measures that may qualify as QRs and therefore should be notified under the QR Decision.