Ethiopia Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in ethiopia, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Prohibited & Restricted Imports
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Customs and administrative challenges are exacerbated by the fact that Ethiopia is land-locked and upwards of 90 percent of its foreign trade passes through a single port in neighboring Djibouti.  The GOE has established an electronic single-window service delivery for international trade and one-stop border posts at the Ethio-Djibouti and Ethio-Kenya borders.  Customs clearance time has been reduced to approximately two weeks.  Ethiopian Customs Proclamation No. 859/2014 has been reformed under the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) and focuses more on streamlining and modernizing trade facilitation processes rather than controlling licensed traders.  Customs procedures allow authorized importers to finalize administrative procedures electronically using minimal documentation. This has significantly reduced overall processing and clearance time. Several customs offices have been located inside industrial parks, further facilitating customs processing for firms operating there.  The maximum number of days given to collect goods from a dry port is 15 days; otherwise, 20% of the tax amount will be charged as a penalty.  

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

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The Chatbot does not collect information about users and does not use the contents of users’ chat history to learn new information. All feedback is anonymous. Please do not enter personally identifiable information (PII), sensitive, or proprietary information into the Chatbot. Your conversations will not be connected to other interactions or accounts with ITA. Conversations with the Chatbot may be reviewed to help ITA improve the tool and address harmful, illegal, or otherwise inappropriate questions.

Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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