Import forms, fiches

[Tim Cullis]

UPDATE March 2012: see post #3 below re changes to this procedure

Complete your temporary import forms online before you leave home

You are allowed to temporarily import a car, 4WD, motorhome or motorbike into Morocco for up to six months per calendar year. Commercial vehicles are limited to three months. In order to take advantage of this scheme you need to complete a declaration of temporary importation form (D16TER). This is normally a three-part no-carbon-required form with a green copy, yellow copy and white copy.

However, several years ago on the Morocco/Mauritania border I saw details of a web-based system you can use to complete your temporary import form (D16TER) for Morocco online, then print it off for handing over when you get there. This saves having to find out which window you need to queue at for the form and means you don't have the hassle of working out how to complete it when all you really want to do is get through the border and ride!



Go to Moroccan Customs website and complete the form as follows:

Prénom and Nom: Your given name and family name as they appear in your passport (in capitals)

Identifiant: If you have been to Morocco before you will have a police number in your passport in the format 999999AA, in which case click on Étrangers non résident (non-resident foreigners) and stick the number in the box. If you haven't been to Morocco before, click on 'autres'.

Immatriculation: your registration number/licence plate number (no spaces)

Marque: Manufacturer of vehicle (BMW or whatever). If yours isn't listed, click on 'autres' which will bring up a dialog box to type into.

Type: Model of vehicle (1200GSA or whatever) as shown in your vehicle papers

Genre: Choose from pull-down list box--motorbike, car...

Pays: Your country of residence

Date de 1ere mise: date the vehicle was first registered in the format dd/mm/yyyy

Chassis no: your VIN (vehicle identity number from V5C).

Press 'Imprimer' to display the data in a formatted manner as shown below.



Now print the resulting webpage. You get three copies printed out, the equivalent of the green, yellow and white NCR forms. Two of the copies fit on one A4 page, the third copy on a second A4 page. Use portait format not landscape, and if you are using US letter format paper, adjust the margins so it will print all the details.

NOW SIGN ALL THREE PARTS where it reads 'Signature du déclarant'

That's it!

PS: Firefox and some other web browsers may not work correctly, so use Internet Explorer if necessary.

The third copy (on the second A4 page) is the one retained by the customs at the port of entry—Exemplaire service 1 (Entrée). You then go on your way with parts one and two on the first A4 page. When you exit Morocco they tear this page in half, you get to keep the top part—Exemplaire déclarant—and the exit customs retain the bottom part—Exemplaire service 2 (Apurement)—for audit.

[Tim Cullis]

Print 'fiche' forms for checkpoints and hotel registration

If you are travelling in sensitive areas such as Western Sahara you will encounter numerous checkpoints with officials wanting to take a note of your passport details together with all sorts of seemingly irrelevant information including how many children you have and the name of your parents. Well you can save yourself a pile of time by printing 'fiche' forms in advance and handing them over instead of your passport. Results all round as the checkpoint police love them.

You can also use these when you check into hotels. I don't like to let my passport leave my possession, so normally I would have to wait whilst the registration clerk laboriously transcribes the data. But instead I can just hand over a fiche and head for the shower.

Download the fiche spreadsheet here and open it in Excel or compatible software.



To make it easier to use the spreadsheet is protected and you are only able to enter information in columns B and E, in rows 2 to 14. The spreadsheet is designed to print four fiches per A4 page and as you enter data in the first fiche it automatically cascades down to the other three. Print and trim the page and you'll find the fiche are just the right size to fit inside your passport.

Notes on completing the form are to the right of the spreadsheet (see pic below). Obviously you can't complete the Police Number, date of entry into Morocco and town of entry before you leave home, but once you've landed in Morocco you can fill these in on all of your sheets. The boxes coming from/going to (destination/provenance) would have to be completed each day/hotel.

[Tim Cullis]

The online import form has changed recently and there is no longer the option to choose 'autres' for the vehicle type, and the list of motorcycle marques only includes BMW, Triumph and Suzuki (because they also happen to manufacture cars).

This is a problem and I have emailed the Douanes service pointing this out and giving them a list of bike marques that need to be added. In the meantime the only suggestion I have is that you choose something like BMW, cross it out on the printed copy and insert the actual marque. This will no doubt cause total chaos at the customs office but at least will highlight the problem and encourage them to do something about it.

The online form now asks for port of entry and date of entry. The date is optional so you can leave that blank. If you are not sure of the port of entry, then I can only suggest you print separate versions for Tanger Med, Tanger Port (Tanger town) or Bab Sebta (Ceuta gate). Or... print just one and manually correct it if needed, causing yet more chaos for the system.

Finally, the form when printed now fits on one A4 piece of paper which will save numerous palm tree forests.

[Tim Cullis]

Just had an email from the Moroccan Douanes, saying, "La liste des marques a été enrichie par des marques de motocycles. Toutefois, si la marque du véhicule ne figure pas sur la liste des marques, vous avez la possibilité de sélectionner la valeur « Autre » et de saisir ladite marque dans le champ qui apparaît."

Basically, they've added not just the list of marques that I provided, but a really comprehensive list. Plus the ability right at the end to specifiy autres (other).