Decree Signed in Damascus
President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued Decree No. 188 of 2026 amending a set of items in Syria's harmonized customs tariff schedule. The decree states that it is effective from the date of its issuance on 12 October 2026, giving customs authorities and importers no transition period before the revised entries apply.
The measure is a formal amendment to an existing tariff rather than a new tariff in its own right. It reaches into a schedule that is already the reference used at Syrian border and customs points to classify incoming goods and calculate the duties owed on them.
What the Decree Changes
The decree modifies selected entries of the harmonized tariff schedule that was adopted earlier under Decree No. 110 of 2026. Its text specifies that the changes cover the description and coding of the affected items, the duty rates charged on them, and the conditions governing how those rates are applied.
A customs tariff of this kind lists traded goods under standardized codes and assigns each entry a rate of duty. Revising the description, the code, or the applicable conditions of an item can change how a shipment is classified at clearance, and therefore the charge it attracts, even where a headline rate is untouched.
A Schedule Not Yet Detailed
The specific goods and figures are set out in a schedule annexed to the decree, which the decree declares an integral part of the harmonized tariff. The announcement of the decree does not itself list which lines were changed or by how much. The decree also repeals any earlier provisions that conflict with the annexed schedule wherever they appear.
Legal Basis and Process
The decree cites the Constitutional Declaration together with Decree No. 109 of 2026, and in particular its Article 27, as well as Decree No. 110 of 2026 on the harmonized tariff itself. It records that the amendments were made on the proposal of the Customs Tariff Council, the body tasked with setting and revising the schedule.
Where It Fits
Customs duties are applied to goods entering the country and feed directly into the landed cost of imports. Because the decree takes effect from issuance rather than after a notice period, the revised classifications and rates become the reference for consignments cleared from 12 October 2026 onward. The decree frames the move as a technical revision of a tariff schedule that was itself introduced only months earlier under Decree No. 110 of 2026.