Namra seizes 1 500 phones, urges importers to follow rules and get Cran approval

The Namibia Revenue Agency (Namra) has seized over 1 500 phones from passengers arriving from abroad for lacking the necessary approval, urging importers to follow rules and pay the required taxes.

The phones were confiscated between April 2024 and July 2025.

Namra spokesperson Tonateni Shidhudhu yesterday revealed this in an opinion piece titled ‘Clearing Cellphones at Customs: What Every Importer Needs to Know’.

“The majority – 1 251 handsets – were held at Hosea Kutako International Airport, with customs officials citing the absence of type approval from the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (Cran) as the primary reason,” he said.

Shidhudhu said in addition, 289 cellphones were held at the state warehouse, mainly because of unpaid duties and taxes.

“This lack of awareness often results in parcels being detained by customs officials, pending compliance with laws designed to protect both consumers and the broader Namibian society,” he said.

According to Shidhudhu, travellers and businesses are not aware that cellphones brought into the country require ‘type approval’ certificates from Cran.

This certificate confirms that the imported cellphone is suitable for use within the country’s telecommunications network and can be applied for prior to the arrival of the device.

Without this approval, Shidhudhu said, the device will be held until the certificate is produced.

He said the second stumbling block hindering the smooth clearance of goods is the payment of value added tax (VAT) at 16.5% and an ad valorem duty, a type of import tax calculated by adding 15% to the value of the device, multiplying that total by 7% and applying the result as the payable duty by importers.

“The law also provides some relief for personal gifts. Cellphones received as gifts may qualify for an exemption of N$1 400, meaning this portion is not subject to VAT or ad valorem duty.

However, this exemption applies only once per calendar year for each importer,” the spokesperson said.

Cran says type approval certificates are required of all importers, vendors, patent owners and equipment manufacturers of telecommunication equipment before their goods are allowed to enter the country.

The company says it takes 40 days to process the application for this certificate on a first come, first served basis, granted that all documents have been submitted, application fees have been paid, and the certificate is valid for three years.

“The purpose of these regulations is to ensure compliance of telecommunications equipment with international standards to prevent any sub-standard equipment that may present health and safety hazards to consumers from entering, to protect consumers from products that are incompatible with local networks, and to ensure the operating frequency of telecommunications equipment generally and radio apparatus specifically conform with the national frequency band plan,” Cran says.

The company says it has been running awareness campaigns on these certificates for more than 15 years.

Some of the confiscated cellphones were imported through ‘Order With Me’ businesses, a term used in Namibia to describe small-scale importers who order goods from abroad on behalf of clients, often through online platforms.

‘Order with Me’ business operator Ndapewa Mutota on Wednesday told The Namibian that Namra must publish the clearing agents registered with the tax authority, as many of them are paying agents to get clearance on their behalf, for them only to find out the individuals are not registered.

“You have to get the right person to do clearance for you, otherwise the struggle does not end. We sometimes have goods ordered by people for special occasions sitting at border posts for more than six weeks,” she said.

Mutota said when this happens she loses income as clients demand their money back, and she ends up refunding them from her own pocket.

Operator Lamanguluka Martin said the VAT of 16.5% on imported goods is an impediment for multiple small businesses.

She said there are occasions on which the VAT payment exceeds the value of the imported item and operators end up making no profit.

“Imagine, one time I ordered goods to the value of N$2 400. I ended up paying about N$3 000 in VAT. How can I do business like that? I’m losing.

But the items are waited for, and I cannot lose that client, so I pay hoping to make up for that loss through the next round of orders,” Martin said.

Namibia currently lacks a generally applicable consumer protection law, leaving individuals and businesses open to unclear and unfair terms in sales contracts, as well as undisclosed fees and interest charges without relief, among others.

The consumer protection bill under the Ministry of International Relations and Trade has not been passed into law yet.

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