The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) has amended the Controls Regulating Customs Procedures and the Rules of Bonded Zones, effective upon publication in Umm Al-Qura Gazette on June 26, 2026. The changes include substantive shifts in what businesses can do, guarantee, and defer, along with a longer tail of procedural clarifications. This alert leads with changes likely to have the most operational impact and outlines is required to ensure compliance. 

Key Change at a Glance 

• Deferred duty for AEO importers clearing goods out of duty-suspended zones, with up to 30 days' payment deferral. 
• New SAR 1,000,000 bank guarantee where ZATCA identifies a bonded zone licensee violation. 
• Bonded zone licenses rebuilt into two tiers, with standard and tank-specific licenses available. 
• Split consignment ban lifted for goods moving to or from duty suspended zones. 
• ZATCA can demand a fuller, risk-based document trail before releasing goods. 
• New statutory five-year cap on how long goods can sit in a bonded zone. 
• Prior approval for zone entry and exit becomes the exception rather than the default. 

Key Change in Detail

Controls Regulating Customs Procedures

Deferred Duty for AEO Importers 

Article 39 

Importers holding Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) status may release goods from a customs duty-suspension area and submit the subsequent customs declaration within 30 days, with payment of related customs duties deferred accordingly. The customs procedures must be completed through a trusted operator, and the importer must be authorised to account for import VAT through its VAT return. This facility is not available for excise goods. 

Split Consignments Allowed for Duty Suspended Movements 

Article 13

Generally, a single consignment with the same owner that arrives under one bill of lading cannot be split. However, the amendment to Article 13 creates an exception for goods moving to or from a duty suspended zone, such as a bonded zone, customs warehouse, special economic zone, or free market. This allows businesses to declare partial quantities, useful for phased releases, partial re-exports, and shipments serving multiple consignees inside a zone.

Changes to Documentation Requirements  

Article 3 

ZATCA may now request a fuller set of supporting documents before release, based on its own risk criteria. These may include the original purchase invoice, the full invoice chain from manufacturer to final importer, sale contracts, bank approved payment documents, a copy of the letter of credit, and a non-tampering certificate. ZATCA may also accept CN22 and CN23 postal declaration forms as the customs declaration for ordinary mail, subject to risk-based inspection.

Rules of Bonded Zones

Bank Guarantee Tied Explicitly to Violations 

Article 6 

Where ZATCA identifies a violation of the Rules or of its regulations and by-laws, it may require bonded zone licensees to post a fixed bank guarantee of SAR 1,000,000, valid for the license term plus one additional year. This creates a defined financial exposure attached to compliance failures, in addition to any enforcement action.

Bonded Zone License Structure Rebuilt 

Article 5 

The specialized bonded zone license and temporary bonded zone license categories have been removed. Licenses now fall into two tiers: a standard bonded zone license covering storage and handling, value-added operations, e-commerce, maintenance, and simple assembly, and a bonded tank zone license, which adds storage of liquid petroleum, petrochemical, and bulk products, plus mixing and blending. E-commerce, maintenance, and simple assembly move into the standard tier, widening the pool of operators able to carry out these activities without a specialized designation, while mixing and blending, and petroleum storage become exclusive to bonded tank zone licensees.

Five Year Cap on Bonded Zone Storage 

Article 12 (new) 

Goods may now be stored in a bonded zone for a maximum of five years from the date of the approved admission form, depending on the nature of the goods. ZATCA may shorten this period for goods unsuited to long-term storage and may extend it once for a similar period on a justified request, while hazardous and radioactive goods follow separate regulations. This is a new ceiling that did not previously exist, so businesses using bonded zones for long-term inventory positioning should track the five-year clock against each admission date and plan any extension request well ahead of the deadline. 

Prior Approval for Zone Entry and Exit Becomes the Exception 

Article 15 

Goods can generally move into a bonded zone from outside KSA, or out for export, without prior approval from competent authorities. Approval remains required only for a defined list: flammable goods, radioactive or hazardous chemicals, weapons, ammunition, and explosives of any kind, and goods subject to a pre-clearance stipulation. Medical materials, previously its own approval category, has been removed from the list, and restricted goods can no longer be released to local consumption or within the customs zone without approval. This is a net simplification for most bonded zone traffic and should enable better supply chain flows. 

Other Changes Worth Noting 

Controls Regulating Customs Procedures 

• Definitions: A formal definition of ‘bonded zones’ has been added, and ‘free market’ now expressly includes VAT suspension alongside customs duty suspension. 
• Archiving: Electronic archiving obligations now extend to the new risk-based documents requested under Article 3. 
• Passenger Goods: The fixed 15-day window for canceling unclaimed passenger declarations is replaced with a reference to the public auction sale rules' timelines. Travelers now face an express obligation, with fines, to complete customs formalities for goods in their possession. 
• Sampling: The 24-hour minimum notice for pre-declaration sampling now applies specifically to air and land ports. Seaport requests instead follow the separate pre-arrival data submission timelines. 
• Transit: A transit declaration is now an express requirement for duty suspended transfers, though ZATCA can still exempt it. Transit documentation is also lighter: a bill of lading only for air and sea, and the origin country's customs declaration only for land, with other documents requested case by case. 

Rules of Bonded Zones 

• Admission and Removal Form: A formal ZATCA-approved form is now required for all goods movements into and out of a zone, with a dedicated procedural guide from ZATCA to follow. Goods on an inbound manifest can now be deposited into a zone before the import declaration is created, subject to ZATCA approval. 
• Consumption and Maintenance: Duty- and tax-free consumption of materials now extends to maintenance operations as well as value-added activities, subject to ZATCA approval and its guides. A new Article 18 sets out the consumption regime in detail, distinguishing duty free use for value-added work from goods such as staff food, which remain dutiable. 
• Bonded Tanks: Tank to tank transfers of liquid petroleum, petrochemical, or bulk cargo are now permitted within the same licensed zone, not only ship to ship at sea. A removal memo and re-export manifest are now explicitly required before a vessel leaves KSA territorial waters. 
• Operator Obligations: New explicit duties include periodic inventory reporting, cooperation with ZATCA inspection visits, and removal of damaged or unusable goods. General compliance obligations now extend to ‘stipulations’ issued by ZATCA, not just regulations, procedures, and guides, and ZATCA's inspection visits are framed as checks for unjustified inventory shortages or surpluses. 

What This Means in Practice

• Map Your Bonded Zone Footprint Against the New License Tiers: Confirm whether current activities, especially e-commerce, maintenance, or simple assembly sit correctly within the standard license. 
• Talk to Your Customs Broker or Trusted Operator Early: The AEO deferred-duty route only works through a trusted operator, so the operational and system setup on their side needs to be confirmed before relying on it. 
• Align With Suppliers on Documentation Now, Not When a Shipment Is Flagged: The full manufacturer-to-importer invoice chain, sale contracts, LC copies, and payment evidence should be retrievable on short notice, which for many businesses means asking suppliers to build this into their standard shipping pack. 
• Revisit Bonded Zone Storage and Lease Arrangements Against the New Five-Year Cap: Flag aging stock approaching the limit and build the extension request lead time into inventory planning. 
• Tighten Inventory Reconciliation Processes: Ahead of ZATCA's more explicit inspection, focus on stock variances and make sure the periodic reporting ZATCA now expects is being produced. 
• Re-Check Split Consignment and Zone Entry Workflows: Recheck with your logistics team and broker so that the new flexibilities, such as partial declarations and fewer pre-approvals, are built into standard operating procedures rather than left unused. 
• If You Move Medical Materials Through Bonded Zones: Confirm the applicable approval route with the relevant authority now that the dedicated category has been removed from Article 15. 

Official Sources 

ZATCA Governor Decision No. (13-99-1448): الموافقة على تعديل الضوابط المنظمة للإجراءات الجمركية وقواعد مناطق ...

Amended Controls Regulating Customs Procedures (Arabic): Amendments to the Controls Governing Customs Procedures 

Amended Rules of Bonded Zones (Arabic): Amendments to the Rules of the Depository Areas 

Get in touch to discuss how these changes affect your customs operating model, licensing position, or bonded zone activities.