CUSTOMS

IMPORT REGULATIONS

Pets

In order to import a pet into Malawi, you will need to obtain an import permit from the Department of Animal Health and Livestock Development. You will need to meet the following requirements so that you can do this:

• The animal should originate from areas that have been free from Foot and Mouth Disease for at least six months and are free from Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia and Rift Valley Fever.
• They should originate from areas that are not under any veterinary restrictions due to outbreaks of any infectious diseases (such as rabies).
• They must test negative for diseases that are prevalent in the country of origin.
• The animal should be accompanied by a veterinary sanitary certificate (issued by an official veterinarian authority from the country of origin) attesting that the above conditions have been met.
• The animal should be transported humanely and should not be off-loaded anywhere else in transit.

Once issued, the import permit will be valid for 45 days. For more information, please visit the Malawi Trade Portal website.

Free to Import

Tobacco (restricted to travellers 18 years and over)

One of the following:

• 200 cigarettes; or
• 250g tobacco in any other form.

Alcohol (restricted to travellers 18 years and over)

All of the following:

• 1 litre spirits; and
• 1 litre of wine or beer.

Other Goods

• 250mL eau de toilette and 50mL perfume.
• Personal goods up to the value of MK300,000 per traveller.

Prohibited

The following are goods which cannot be brought into the country.

• Any attempt to import a restricted good without a relevant permit is considered to be a prohibited import.

Restricted

These goods are strictly regulated, and in most cases require a permit to be obtained prior to arrival.

• Wild animals and their derivative products.
• Live fish, their eggs, and spawn.
• Any bird eggs, whether in shell or dried form.
• Bees and their derivative products, including honey and beeswax.
• Meat requires written permission from the Minister of Industry and Trade.
• Clothing and uniforms designed for military or police use.
• Pharmaceuticals.
• Gold.
• Sugar.
• Knives with a spring blade, such as flick knives.
• Radioactive substances.
• Game traps.
• Mist nets for the capture of wild birds.
• Unpreserved beans.
• Compound products containing flour and meal residues, including chemical additions to animal foodstuffs, antibiotic growth stimulants, and bird seed.
• Gram and dhall.
• Ground nuts.
• Maize, including maize grits, maize cones, and hominy chop.
• Oil seeds, oil meal, oil cake, offal, and residue from oil seeds.
• Potatoes.
• Rice.
• Rupoko and rupoko meal.
• Bananas.
• Exercise books.
• Fertilisers.
• Dieldrin.
• Aldrin.
• Kitchen and table salt.
• Ammunitions and guns.

EXPORT REGULATIONS

Restricted

These goods are strictly regulated, and in most cases require a permit to be obtained prior to departure.

• Unmanufactured game trophies.
• Currencies.
• Gold and valuables.
• Dangerous drugs.

For further information, please visit the Malawi Revenue Authority.