Business opportunities
Austrade's business development specialists have prepared a select range of market profiles with potential business opportunities and to assist in your exporting investigations. Please see the list of industries at the end of this profile that you may be interested in.
In conjunction with the market profiles, the Opportunities Online website may be a useful addition to your information sources. The database established by Austrade aims to deliver international sales leads ('export opportunities'), including tenders, generated by our overseas network to Australian businesses.
Registering is simple and once this is done you will have the option of accessing a weekly newsletter featuring the most recent opportunities uploaded onto the system in industry sectors of interest to you. Another feature is the ability to view, and also print, the complete page of opportunity details.
For general inquiries concerning Austrade’s services, please contact Austrade Direct on 13 28 78.
Business etiquette
Please note: Bribery of foreign public officials is a crime. Australian individuals and companies can be prosecuted in Australia for bribing foreign officials when overseas. For more information, go to the Attorney General's Department on foreign bribery.
Tariffs and regulations
Import restrictions
Most goods may be imported under an open general licence. Some items require specific licences which are issued by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The validity period is usually four months. Goods requiring an import licence include:
- fresh fruit
- fresh vegetables
- fresh meat
- plants and equipment
The import of salt is restricted to a government monopoly.
Advance payments before shipment require the prior approval of the Central Bank, except for imports whose value does not exceed £C 2000.
The following are prohibited items:
- citrus fruits and peel, except citrus seeds and processed peels of fruit
- vine plants and grapes, excluding dry currants and raisins
- raw vegetables
- cut flowers
- mushrooms
- soil
- animal and vegetable manures
- walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and groundnuts in shells
Tariff
Two-column tariff based on the Harmonised System. EC countries receive preferential treatment.Most duties are ad valorem, based on the GATT Valuation Code, approximately CIF value (Incoterms 2000). Specific duties are expressed in £C per specific measure.
Customs authority contact details:
Director General of Customs and Excise
Department of Customs and Excise
Ministry of Finance
29 Katsonis Street
Nicosia Cyprus
Tel: + 357 2 865 214
Fax: +357 2 305 151
Packing, marking and labelling
All prepackaged processed food imports must have an expiration date.
Packing of hay and straw is prohibited unless accompanied by an official certificate issued by the appropriate authorities in the country of origin, stating that areas of origin or transit are free from foot and mouth disease or the packing has been thoroughly disinfected with a bactericide (see 'Special certificates').
The country of origin must be clearly and indelibly marked on all imports. Otherwise, normal commercial practice applies. Food must be marked with the name of the manufacturer, the ingredients and the net weight.
Fertilisers must be packed in closely woven sacks. The sacks must be specially marked to show clearly and legibly the name and address of the importer, the country of manufacture, and the percentage of nitrogen, phosphate and potash when reduced to soluble form. There are no known prohibitions on other marks.
With regard to merchandise marks, the following are prohibited importation into Cyprus:
- Goods bearing a forged trademark or false trade description.
- Foreign merchandising bearing: a name or trademark being or purporting to be that of a manufacturer, dealer or trader in Cyprus; or a mark being or purporting to be a certification trademark, unless the name, trademark or certification trademark is accompanied by an indication of the country in which the goods were made or produced.
- Certain foreign merchandise, unless marked as provided by Orders issued under 'The Merchandise Marks Law'.
Weights and measures
The metric system.
Insurance
Normal commercial practice.
Methods of quoting and payment
Quotations should be on a CIF basis (Incoterms 2000), preferably in Pound Sterling. Payment may be by cash against documents, letters of credit or usance drafts payable up to any period. Advance and extended payments require prior approval from the Central Bank.
Public health requirements
Certain agricultural products are prohibited. Certain other products are restricted unless accompanied by an appropriate certificate (See 'Special certificates').
An international phytosanitary certificate must accompany imports of seed potatoes, various other seed plants, dried peas and beans, shelled groundnuts, packing material, carobs, cotton, hay and straw and other fodder.
Animals and animal products are subject to a general prohibition but the Director of Veterinary Services may grant special permits.
Alcoholic beverages, particularly spirits, require a certificate of age.
Drugs and foodstuffs for human consumption are subject to strict controls.
Importers, other than specified professional persons and bodies, require a licence from the Pharmacy Board for the import of poisons.
Documentation
Commercial invoice
No prescribed form, however:
- Cyprus customs requires three copies.
- Must indicate usual details in full.
- Each copy must be stamped and signed by the manufacturer or supplier.
- Fax signatures are not permitted.
- There is no requirement for chamber of commerce certification and/or consular legalisation to appear on documentation.
Certificate of origin
Required if EC preference is sought. Also, Consular legalisation may be requested.
Bill of lading
No special requirements. 'To Order' bills are acceptable.
Packing list
Packing lists are not mandatory but facilitate clearance. If lists are supplied, two copies should be given.
Special certificates
Livestock, plants and seeds, and certain foodstuffs for animals require health certificates issued by the approved authority in the country of origin; in Australia this is usually the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry-Australia or the relevant state department of agriculture.
In addition to a phytosanitary certificate, the following goods, inter alia, require a permit from the pertinent authorities:
- cotton
- hay and straw (including hay and straw used for packing materials)
- fodder
- various plant seeds
- fresh fruit
- honey in an uncooked state
- seed potatoes
Taxation
A 10 per cent Value Added Tax is levied on the duty-paid value. Essential goods,such as food and books, are exempt from the VAT. Excise duties are levied on tobacco and its products, beer, alcoholic beverages, matches, salt and playing cards.
An import surcharge of 3.8 per cent, assessed on the CIF value (Incoterms 2000), is levied on all goods. Luxury surcharge of 20 per cent is levied on speed boats, caviar and whiskey. A luxury surcharge is levied, as follows, on all motor vehicles:
- CY£25 per 500 cubic cm up to 1500 cubic cm (of engine capacity)
- CY£100 per 100 cubic cm or part thereof over 1500 cubic cm
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