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Gold

Zimbabwe to United Arab Emirates

Checked 2026-09-29

Public law and official guidance, published as research. Not legal, tax or financial advice.

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ZimbabweUnited Arab Emirates

No bilateral gold instrument found; the UAE is not among the trade agreements ZIMRA lists for origin and preference (COMESA, SADC, four bilaterals, EC-ESA and UK-ESA EPAs), so no preferential certificate of origin exists for this pair - a gold export to Dubai can carry only the non-preferential certificate of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, where the UAE side asks for one (zw.st-65). The pair gets ordinary treatment (0% UAE duty). The UAE recorded 43.8 t (2022) and 30.4 t (2023) of unwrought gold imports from Zimbabwe; Zimbabwe files no HS 710812 data with UN Comtrade. Investigations describe gold hand-carried to Dubai under licences obtained through the state refinery.

How sure this page is

  • Secondary 4
  • Researcher's note 2
  • Not recorded 1
  • Not stated 1

Where practice departs from the law

What credible sources show happening that the law does not provide for.

  • Mining Zimbabwe reports that large volumes are flown from Harare airport to the UAE, China and India, a route linked to powerful dealers and political elites. It puts illicit-trade losses at US$1.2-1.5bn a year, with dealers selling only 10-30% to the state refinery to keep their licences.

    Secondary

  • The UAE import declaration (ae.st-18) lists a certificate of origin among its documents; no Zimbabwean law read requires one on export. The Zimbabwe module now models the ZNCC non-preferential certificate as a conditional, non-blocking step (zw.st-65); whether FGR's Dubai shipments actually carry one was not found.

    SecondaryNot recorded

    Researcher's note: [unconfirmed] Practice not documented; [inferred] conditional step.

  • Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit reports gold carried to Dubai in hand luggage and suitcases, refined there and stamped as Dubai bars. Smugglers obtained licences to take gold out of the country through the state refinery, which also took in cash deposits used to buy gold (a gold-for-cash laundering scheme).

    Secondary

    Researcher's note: Publication date not recorded from the fetch.

  • Zimbabwe reported no HS 710812 exports to UN Comtrade for 2022 or 2023, so the UAE figures have no Zimbabwean mirror.

    Secondary

What we could not obtain

Documents the research needed and could not get, where they might be, and why.

No gaps recorded

Routes using this pair

Sources