The deputy from the "Ishraqat Kanaan" bloc, Taqi Naser Al-Waeli, warned today, Tuesday, against the ongoing manipulation of the origin of imported goods and presenting them in the markets as national products, while calling for the activation of monitoring agencies to protect local products from fraud and deception.
Al-Waeli stated, in a statement followed by the news agency Video, that the responsibility for protecting national products falls on the regulatory authorities, pointing out that some importers bring goods from other countries and label them as "Made in Iraq" to evade customs duties and taxes and benefit from local product protection measures.
He added that there is a slowdown and weakness in the performance of some relevant entities, as well as a lack of accountability and negligence in following up on this file, which has turned Iraq into a market for imported and counterfeit goods at the expense of national production.
He clarified that local products face significant challenges due to the chaos of imports, especially the entry of goods from certain countries without imposing taxes and customs duties on them, as he expressed, stressing that these practices negatively affect the ability of Iraqi products to compete.
Al-Waeli emphasized the need to activate regulatory departments and hold accountable those involved in falsifying the origin of goods, noting that the continued entry of imported goods and marketing them as national products poses a direct threat to local industry.
These warnings come in conjunction with the Cabinet's approval of a decision to exempt imported food and medicines from customs duties starting from October 7, 2026, retroactively, including imports coming from Jordan.