Legal duty of goods obtained from territorial waters

The goods taken out of the territorial and border waters must be delivered to the customs and their owners have one year from the time of publication of the advertisement to clear the goods by providing documents and paying legal fees.

According to Ambassador Arjan, based on Article 157 of the Customs Law, people who take domestic or foreign goods out of territorial and border waters are required to hand them over to the nearest customs office.

According to this article, after the delivery of the goods, the customs must prepare a meeting report including its specifications and characteristics, and after registering in the warehouse office and issuing the warehouse receipt, immediately announce the matter in a widely circulated newspaper.

According to the law, the claimants of the ownership of the goods have one year from the date of publication of the advertisement to submit ownership documents to the customs. During this period, the owner must pay the import duties of the foreign goods, the costs of removing the goods from the water and other related costs and take action for its clearance.

If no one comes forward to determine the assignment of the goods by the end of the one-year period, the goods will be considered as unknown and after the sale by the legal guardian, the related costs will be paid from the proceeds of the sale.

Also, according to the first note of this article, determining the duties of sunken or damaged vessels and their remains that are moved by the Ports and Maritime Organization shall be done in compliance with Article 37 of the Iranian Maritime Law approved on 29 Shahrivar 1343.

The second note also stipulates that perishable goods and goods whose storage requires additional costs or causes danger must be sold in accordance with the relevant regulations. The funds from the sale of these goods will be kept as a deposit until the final assignment is determined.