How to import a Chinese electric car into Algeria (2026)

CRAVEUO EV Export · Sources last checked 2026-10-30 · General information, not legal advice. We do not clear customs in Algeria. Nothing here is a promise or a quote. This page explains the rules. It is not an offer of cars.

Quick answer

Algeria has three routes, and each is narrow. New cars for sale go through dealers approved by the Industry Ministry, each tied to a maker by an exclusive contract. Residents can import a car under 3 years old for their own use, once every 3 years, with their own foreign currency. Citizens moving home can use a separate route. We found no written route for a private resident to import a new car. We also could not find the duty on an ordinary electric car, or the current state of quotas.

Key facts

Who can import new cars

Commercial import of new cars is limited to approved dealers under Decree 22-383 of 17 November 2022. A dealer needs Industry Ministry approval for 5 years and an exclusive contract with one maker. It must buy from the maker or the maker's affiliates, and can import only the brands and models it is approved for. Passenger cars may run on petrol, electricity, hydrogen, hybrid, LPG or CNG, not diesel. Imported cars pass a compliance check by the mines authorities before delivery.

Our reading: a trader without a maker's authorisation cannot use this channel. A 2021 rule also limited the business to companies wholly owned by Algerian residents. We did not find whether that carried over to Decree 22-383.

A private resident has no written route that we could find for a new car. The resident route below needs a car already registered abroad.

The minister said in February 2026 that "transitional measures" still allow imports of new cars and cars under 3 years old. He gave 2025 imports as 54,418 cars under 3 years old plus about 42,000 new cars.

The under-3-years route

Decree 23-74 of 20 February 2023 lets a resident individual import one car under 3 years old, once every 3 years. We did not find whether it has been amended since.

The resale rule comes from a 2024 report on an amendment to the 2025 budget bill, which was still awaiting the upper house. A second TSA excerpt repeats the 66% figure, which supports that it took effect, but we did not open it.

We did not confirm the date from which the 3 years are counted. We also cannot turn the 80% reduction into a figure, because we did not find the rate it applies to.

Citizens moving home

According to TSA, quoting customs, under the 2026 finance law an Algerian registered with a consulate who has lived abroad for 3 straight years can import a new car or one under 5 years old, free of duty and tax. The car must be electric, petrol or hybrid, up to 1.8 L. The report gives a value cap of 8 or 10 million dinars. We did not read when each cap applies.

TVN and other taxes after clearance

The TVN new-vehicle tax was not abolished. From 1 January 2026 it is paid after clearance and before registration, according to a customs note and a tax office notice. A report that it was scrapped misreads this: only the check at clearance went away.

TSA also reports a new tax of 8,000 dinars at the same stage. Its link to the TVN is not clear. We think they may be related.

We did not find the TVN amount table.

The duty we could not find

Algerian customs' tariff page offers only a search box, and its vehicle import page was blocked. The only figures we saw are on a private site that reprints the tariff with no update date. We tried 13 codes for the ordinary electric line and none opened.

Do not use these lines for a normal electric car. The electric line above is for armoured vehicles only.

Not found:

• Duty on an ordinary electric car under 8703.80
• Whether TIC applies to electric cars
• The legal meaning of TCS and PRCT
• Whether DAPS applies to vehicles
• Current quotas, import permits and the list of approved dealers (older report on quotas, not opened)

Steering, charging and ports

We found no rule on steering side. China-market cars are left-hand drive.

CCS2 and Type 2 appear only on a country reference site. We found no official standard. China-market cars charge on GB/T, so ask which plug a car has first.

Algiers and Oran are ports in our notes. We did not find which ports are designated for cars.

How an order works

1. Work out your route: approved dealer, resident with a car under 3 years old, or citizen moving home.
2. Ask Algerian customs or a licensed broker for current charges and any permit, in writing.
3. If you use the resident route, check the car's age, your foreign currency and the expert report before you pay anything.
4. Any quote comes from the licensed Chinese export company named in the contract.
5. Sign the contract. Nothing is paid before it is signed, and payment goes only to the company account on the invoice.

Send your city, model and version through the inquiry form. We tell you whether we can supply that car before any contract.