Age limits, counting rules, import ban or penalty duty for used trucks: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Nigeria, Ukraine and 15 more markets. As of 09/2026.
As of: 12 September 2026. All rules are stated as rules, not as calculated years of manufacture – anyone reading this in 2027 will need to do the maths themselves. No guarantee of accuracy; always have the details confirmed by the importer or the customs authority of the destination country before shipping.
Around 60 percent of the used trucks and tractor units exported from Germany go to non-EU countries – in 2025, that was around 34,000 vehicles. Almost every one of these countries has its own rules on the age from which a truck can no longer be imported, how that age is counted, and whether a breach merely costs money or stops the container at the border. For sellers, this means: a 6-year-old Actros can no longer be cleared in Saudi Arabia, can still be sold as a tractor unit in Egypt for one more year, and can be sold without any age limit in Serbia or Georgia. Anyone who knows which markets are still open to their vehicle also knows which dealers will bid – and what the vehicle is worth. How the residual value of a used truck is made up and how the sale works step by step is explained in our other guides.
Trucks, tractor units, trailers and semi-trailers over 3.5 t: a maximum of 5 years, counted from 1 January of the year of manufacture. Older vehicles are not cleared – a genuine import ban, not a penalty duty. Left-hand drive only; salvage, accident-damaged, fire-damaged, water-damaged, ex-taxi and ex-police vehicles are prohibited. Before shipping, a Saber certificate of conformity from a SASO-accredited inspection body in the exporting country is required; the buyer must be a Saudi or GCC citizen or a company. Note: many freight forwarder websites still state "10 years for trucks" – that applied until May 2022. Source: ZATCA, SPA/Transport General Authority.
No officially documented age limit for trucks. Condition is what matters: since May 2017, vehicles with fire, water or irreparable structural damage have been rejected by MoIAT on the basis of the VIN and can be neither registered nor insured. Right-hand-drive vehicles cannot be registered. Via the Jebel Ali Free Zone, vehicles can be stored and re-exported without customs clearance – MoIAT and RTA only step in upon registration in the local market. Source: RTA Dubai, Dubai Customs.
Third-largest buyer of German used trucks (2025: around 4,600 units). Goods vehicles, including tractor units with trailers or semi-trailers, may only be imported if fewer than 5 years have passed since the year of manufacture before the year of customs clearance; special-purpose vehicles 10 years. A breach means an import ban. For tractor units there is additionally a fleet renewal programme for licensed Jordanian hauliers, whose age limit the Council of Ministers lowered on 6 May 2026 from under 8 to a maximum of 5 years – older units, including those already sitting in the Zarqa Free Zone, have been blocked since then. Right-hand-drive vehicles as well as salvage, fire-damaged and water-damaged vehicles have been excluded since November 2025. Source: Jordan Customs Trade Repository.
Staggered by class: trucks with a gross vehicle weight of 9 t or more a maximum of 5 years beyond the production year, tractor units a maximum of 7 years, trucks under 9 t (i.e. including 3.5 to 9 t) only 1 year – the production year itself is not counted, and the period runs up to the date of shipment or purchase. Older vehicles: import ban with no penalty-duty alternative. Crane trucks, concrete pumps and off-road vehicles are exempt from age limits. In addition, there is the importer register, ACI/Nafeza advance declaration 48 hours before arrival and GOEIC inspection with ECE proof. The official Arabic annex is only available as a scan; have the wording confirmed by the importer before shipping. Source: GOEIC, ITC guide.
Two regimes that are not interchangeable. In federal Iraq (Basra, Baghdad) no truck age limit is documented, but since 1 January 2026 there has been a ban on accident-, water- or fire-damaged vehicles and a mandatory standard (TR 167) "from model year 2025", whose consequences for older used trucks are unclear – do not ship without clarification from COSQC or Bureau Veritas. The Kurdistan Region (Ibrahim Khalil) has, since 1 January 2026, only admitted trucks of 4 t and above from the nine most recent model years, with a mandatory CoC, a right-hand-drive ban and a salvage ban. The main volume runs via Jordan anyway. Source: Iraqi Ministry of Planning, KRG Instruction 14/2025 (press).
Used trucks only as an exception for fleet renewal: under 3 years with confirmation from the Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization, or under 5 years from the year of manufacture under the 2023 regulation, in each case only with order registration and foreign currency allocation. The real barrier is payment: since the EU snapback of 29 September 2025, transfers to Iran have again been subject to notification and authorisation requirements, on top of US secondary sanctions on the automotive sector. German exports in 2025: 1 vehicle. Source: Council of the EU.
For trucks, tractor units and trailers, the prohibition list contains neither an age limit nor a ban – the 12-year limit from the year of manufacture listed there applies only to passenger cars. What matters in practice: right-hand drive prohibited, import only via seaports, loose used tyres prohibited, and since April 2026 the SON/NADDC conformity certification VehCAP before shipping, whose scope for trucks is not yet documented. Whether used trucks fall under SONCAP is answered in contradictory ways by SON and GTAI. Source: Nigeria Trade Portal.
Until 30 September 2026, no age ban but a penalty duty from the eleventh year after the year of manufacture: trucks 5 percent (over 10 to 12 years), 10 percent (over 12 to 22 years), 30 percent (over 22 years) of the CIF value. For everything shipped from 1 October 2026 onwards, the Ghana Standards Authority requires an inspection in the country of origin with a Certificate of Conformance; vehicles over 15 years from the date of manufacture and vehicles with water, fire or frame damage will not receive one. The limit was changed from 10 to 15 years within two weeks in August 2026; whether heavy trucks are covered at all is not clear-cut. The decisive date is the date of shipment, not arrival. Source: Ghana Standards Authority, Ghana Revenue Authority.
According to press reports, the decree of 24 October 2025 raises the limit for trucks over 3.5 t to 15 years; the official customs FAQ still states 10 years, and the full text of the decree could not be found. A genuine import ban. Anyone with a vehicle between 10 and 15 years old should obtain written confirmation from customs in Dakar that the new decree applies. Source: Douanes Sénégal.
Trucks, tractor units and vans only receive the individual import licence if under 5 years old, according to current sources counted from first registration; without the licence no registration is possible, which effectively amounts to an import ban. Trailers over 3.5 t under 10 years, construction machinery under 15 years. No pre-shipment inspection. Source: ADII, GTAI.
Used trucks over 3.5 t, tractor units and trailers cannot be imported; the 2005/2007 ban remains in force, and all liberalisations since 2020 only concern private individuals importing passenger cars or light petrol, hybrid or electric commercial vehicles. A diesel truck will not be cleared through customs. Source: GTAI.
Both are right-hand-drive markets sourcing from Japan and the United Kingdom; in 2025, zero and three trucks respectively went there from Germany. Kenya: right-hand drive only, all classes up to 8 years only, a genuine ban with destruction of over-age vehicles. Tanzania: no age limit, but additional excise based on the year of manufacture (18 percent for over 8 to 10 years, 35 percent for over 10 to 20 years, 40 percent above that, since 1 July 2026) and mandatory PVoC with no EU inspection partner. Source: KEBS, TRA.
No age limit. The excise duty on trucks (HS 8704) rises with age: base rate 0.026 euros per cm³ (5 to 20 t) or 0.033 euros per cm³ (over 20 t), multiplied by 40 for 5 to 8 years and by 50 for over 8 years. Tractor units (HS 8701) are exempt from excise. Emission standard: at least Euro 5 until 31 December 2026, Euro 6 from 1 January 2027 for trucks and tractor units, new and used alike. Right-hand-drive vehicles are not admitted; vehicles from Russia, Belarus or occupied territories are prohibited. The customs and tax exemption of spring 2022 has been revoked since 1 July 2022. Source: Law 2739-IV (full text), State Tax Service.
No age limit. The only hurdle is Euro 3 for category N, to be proven by registration certificate, CoC or manufacturer's certificate; below that, an import ban. Right-hand-drive vehicles have not been eligible for registration since 1 July 2012. The tightening to Euro 4/6 announced in 2023 is not in force. Source: Uprava carina, GTAI.
No age limit and no right-hand-drive ban for trucks – the 6-year rule and the high excise duty of April 2026 apply only to passenger cars. The hurdle is Euro V at first registration since 1 January 2025 (Regulation 238/2023); for EU vehicles, in practice via the list in Annex 6 (EU registration and year of manufacture 2013 or later) or CoC. Re-export and transit are exempt, which is why Georgia is the EU's third-largest destination market for used tractor units. Source: Regulation 238/2023, National Environmental Agency.
No age limit; the hurdle is the cost made up of EAEU customs duty with age brackets, 16 percent import VAT since 2026, the recycling fee (around 4.4 million tenge for trucks of 20 to 50 t) and the first registration fee. Since 20 October 2025, private individuals can no longer obtain a vehicle design safety certificate (СБКТС) for trucks over 5 t and tractor units – buyers must be legal entities. Source: GTAI, Recycling fee operator.
No fixed age limit, but at least Euro 4 for new and used vehicles alike (otherwise an import ban), mandatory left-hand drive and a utilisation fee that jumps to two to four times the amount from three years after the date of manufacture (tractor unit 670 or 1,360 BRV). Until 31 December 2027, Euro 5 tractor units up to five years old are exempt from customs duty and fees; trucks are not. GTAI reports an import ban on used trucks from 3.5 to 12 t (category N2), the legal basis for which could not be found – clarify before shipping. Source: Technical Regulation (lex.uz), GTAI.
Both markets are effectively closed to European used trucks. Under the Estatuto Automotriz, Chile admits only new vehicles; exceptions apply only to special vehicles such as cranes, concrete mixers or fire engines and to residents of the free zone regions in the north and south. Peru permits used trucks only up to two years from the model year with mileage limits (240,000 km for over 12 t), diesel only over 12 t, plus 30 percent selective consumption tax. German exports in 2025: 8 and 3 vehicles respectively. Source: Ley 18.483, SUNAT.
An example: a tractor unit below the 5-year threshold can be sold in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and in Egypt up to the 7-year threshold. Anyone who has passed these thresholds has lost three of the largest non-EU markets but will still find buyers without age limits in Georgia, Serbia, Ukraine (as a tractor unit without excise), Kazakhstan and Nigeria. Beyond ten years, what mainly remains is West Africa, the Western Balkans and Central Asia. So anyone who sells their vehicle shortly before such a threshold reaches more bidders – and at truckoo, verified dealers from over 34 countries bid in parallel, so that the limit of a single market does not determine the price.
Want to know what your truck is worth in these markets today? With the free truck valuation you receive a price estimate based on real sales, followed by binding offers from verified dealers – sell your commercial vehicle with truckoo.
A maximum of five years, counted from 1 January of the year of manufacture. Older trucks and tractor units over 3.5 t are not cleared; there is no penalty duty as an alternative.
No. The 12-year limit on the Nigerian prohibition list applies only to passenger cars (HS 8703). For trucks, tractor units and trailers, the list contains no age limit; what matters is left-hand drive, import via seaports and conformity certification.
The year of manufacture is the date the vehicle was built, the first registration is the day it was first registered, and the model year is a manufacturer designation that may run ahead of the calendar year. Depending on which of these a country refers to, the age limit shifts by up to two years – which is why you should always check the destination country's rule rather than a calculated year.
As of this overview: Nigeria, Serbia (at least Euro 3), Georgia (at least Euro V), Ukraine (excise rises with age), Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (at least Euro 4), Tanzania (excise rises with age) and the United Arab Emirates. The hurdles there are emission standards, steering position, condition and charges rather than an age ban.
This overview is reviewed monthly. Changes that come into force by the reference date are added with both the old and the new rule.
Gabriel Böhm is Director Strategy and Operations at truckoo, the digital platform that is redefining commercial vehicle trade in Europe. With a passion for innovation and efficiency, he shapes the strategic direction and drives operational excellence to connect sellers and buyers smarter, faster and more transparently.
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