The expressions defined below for the purposes of this Agreement shall have the meanings set forth alongside each of them:

1- Means of Transport:

• A- Road Vehicles: Any motor vehicle designed for the transport of goods on roads, whether equipped with a cargo box or serving as a tractor to pull a trailer or semi-trailer that travels on the road as a single unit and is registered in its country for the international transport of goods.

• B- Transport Cars: Cars designated for the transport of goods on railways.

• C- Water Transport Means: The means used for transporting goods in internal waterways and seas.

• D- Container: Standardized vessels designed to hold goods with an internal volume measured in cubic meters, prepared for transport by road vehicles and/or transport cars and/or water transport means.

2- Exceptional Load: Goods that are not typically transported in a transport means that can be packaged and sealed due to their weight and/or size and/or nature, provided they are easily identifiable and cannot be placed within a cargo box and securely locked under customs seals, or in the case of these goods being transported by their own means (motorized) from a customs office at the point of departure to a customs office at the point of arrival, including but not limited to:

• A- Transporting live animals and livestock in special vehicles.

• B- Transporting parts of equipment and machinery with weights and/or sizes on special trucks (transporting heavy loads).

• C- Transporting cars on special carriers.

3- Taxes and Fees: All taxes and fees due on goods and their means of transport in the case of their importation, exportation, re-exportation, or transit through one of the contracting parties.

4- Transit Operation: The transport of goods from the point of departure to the destination office in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement.

5- Loading Office: A customs office located in the territory of one of the contracting parties, authorized to place customs seals on means of transport for the purposes of the transit operation.

6- Departure Office: A customs office belonging to one of the contracting parties from which the transit operation begins, which may also serve as a loading office.

7- Transit Office: A customs office belonging to one of the contracting parties through which the means of transport passes during the transit operation.

8- Destination Office: A customs office where the transit operation ends.

9- Cargo Manifest: The document in which the description of the shipped goods is recorded according to the classifications of the harmonized system in transport means, which includes the following:

• A- Description of the goods.

• B- Marks, numbers, quantity and type of packages or units.

• C- Type of cargo (hazardous – flammable – toxic – chemical) entering into civil industries.

• D- Value of the goods.

• E- Origin and source of the goods.

• F- Country of destination.

• G- Gross weight of the goods.

• H- Identification of the means of transport.

• I- Name and address of the person signing the cargo manifest.

• J- Name of the sender and the recipient.

• K- Details of any documents attached to the cargo manifest.

• L- Serial number of the manifest and its date.

• M- A field for notes related to customs seals and the date they were placed.

• N- A field for special notes.

10- Transit Declaration: The declaration that must be submitted for each transit operation in the country where the operation begins.

11- Transit Area: The territories of the countries that are parties to this Agreement.

12- Carrier: The person who carries out the transport in the transit operation and is authorized to do so by the competent authorities.

13- Guarantor: A person authorized by the customs authorities in a contracting party country to provide guarantees or sureties in the transit operation.

14- Guarantee: A financial obligation by which the guarantor commits to pay the amounts due as a result of the transit operation between Arab countries upon maturity.

15- Declarant: The person authorized to sign the transit declaration.

16- Person: A natural or legal person.

17- Committee: The technical committee formed in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement.

18- Goods: Any natural material or animal, agricultural, industrial, or intellectual product.

19- Transport Document: A document issued under a contract for the transport of goods and considered proof of the carrier's receipt of the goods subject to transport in the condition stated therein for delivery to the recipient in the same condition.

20- Service Fees: The amounts charged for providing transit services for goods between the contracting parties of the Agreement.

21- Customs Seal: A lock bearing a serial number and the name of the country placed by the customs authority on means of transport and goods to prevent tampering with their contents.

1- For the purposes of this Agreement, the transfer of goods, personal belongings, and means of transport, regardless of their origin (subject to the provisions of the boycott), is considered a transit transfer through the territories of one of the contracting States, whether transferred from another means of transport or not, or deposited in warehouses or not, or if there has been a change in their shipment or not, which constitutes a complete transfer (starting and ending) outside the borders of the country through which the transfer occurred, provided that the destination is a country of one of the contracting States.

2- Goods in transit originating from one of the contracting States are covered by the provisions of this Agreement even if the destination country is not a country of one of the contracting parties. Transit is also considered as the transfer of vehicles on their wheels and the transfer of livestock and live animals on their feet or loaded through a country of one of the contracting parties to the country of the other party in accordance with the applicable customs regulations, procedures, and rules in each party.

1- This Agreement applies to the transportation of goods in accordance with the provisions of Article Two of this Agreement.

2- The following items are excluded from the application of the provisions of this Agreement: military weapons, ammunition, military equipment, toxic and hazardous materials that pose a risk to human, animal, and plant health and the environment, medical supplies, relief materials during disasters, prohibited or banned goods under national legislation, items that conflict with religious values, and any materials that the Committee deems necessary to include in the classification.

3- The contracting states have the right to prevent the entry of goods into their territories for religious, security, health, or environmental reasons, or if they are counterfeit or imitation goods, provided that this is proven to them, and the member states shall exchange lists of such goods.

The beneficiary of the provisions of this Agreement must observe the following:

• 1- The transfer must be carried out in a non-exceptional load situation using means of transport that meet the technical conditions specified in Article (11) of this Agreement.

• 2- A transit declaration (permit) must be presented with the means of transport to the customs authorities at the point of departure, fulfilling the required conditions according to the attached model for the transit declaration (Appurtenance No. 1).

• 3- The required guarantee must be provided.

• 4- The carrier or its agent must present the cargo declaration (manifest) according to (Appurtenance No. 2) and the transport document according to (Appurtenance No. 3), both endorsed by the competent customs authorities in the country of export, with the necessity of indicating the transport document number on the transit declaration (permit).

Subject to the technical conditions applicable to the means of transport stipulated in this agreement, the goods and means of transport, as a general rule:

• 1- Are not subject to the payment of taxes or fees at the transit offices (which are usually imposed upon import or export), except for service fees rendered as transit fees and road maintenance, provided that their total does not exceed the weight of the truck (gross weight loaded/empty) in tons multiplied by the distance traveled in kilometers multiplied by a fixed percentage of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) according to the following equation:

• Amount of fees - 0.002 (SDR) × Weight of the truck (loaded/empty) tons × Distance traveled (km),(*).

• 2- Are not subject to customs inspection at the transit offices if the customs seals are intact and there is no evidence of tampering or violation, and this does not apply to exceptional loads.

• 3- Are not subject - during the transit process - to any customs procedures beyond those stated in this agreement, without prejudice to the application of provisions related to public morals, public security, public health, and the preservation of plant and animal wealth.

• 4- Customs authorities may conduct an inspection of the goods in case of suspicion of a violation.