Overview

Oum Teboul is the main border between Tunisia and Algeria. The border Haddada (Oum Teboul, El Kala), Oum Teboul is a village located in the commune of Souarekh (of which it is the capital), in the Wilaya of El Tarff, in Algeria, it is located 10 km to the Tunisian border.

From the Tunisian side, there are the customs office and Tunisian National Tourist Office in place. The free zone and the port are 78 km far from the border, and different facilities such as weighbridge scale and fuel station are available around.  From the Algerian side, the custom office available to facilitate and organize the custom clearance process at the border. 160,000 passengers took this route during July 2018.

On the other hand, the border post of El Aïoun (El Kala, El Tarf), located 15 km south of that of Oum Teboul. equipped with the device of "autopassage", rather commercial, it is less used by trucks and passengers who still have to ignore that the Tunis-Ghardimaou highway has been open since November 2016 in Bou Salem, between Djendouba and Béja, only 70 km from the border, which also reduces and improves the route to Tunis via El Aïoun, Aïn Draham. It to note that regulars at border crossings advise against showing up between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. to avoid the long line of cars and trucks.

Daily Capacity

As Oum Teboul is the main border between Tunisia and Algeria so it is congested with many commercial movements, in addition to the movement of passengers travelling by private and Taxi cars. Although the border is organized by separating the lanes between trucks and cars, in normal situation the custom can release up to 200 cars and 60 trucks daily, and the priority is given to the private business passengers, but still in case of extreme overcrowding and protocols ( papers crossing), even cars and trucks loaded can stuck subject to stuck at the border for few days.   

Customs Clearance

Based on the Custom Department in Tunisia and Algeria, the following documents are required to clear the goods at the borders: 

Exporting or re-exporting documents from Tunisia to Algeria are required.   

Other related documents:

• Copy of the B/L 
• Copy of certificate of origin. 
• Copy of Packing list. 
• Copy of Certificate of origin. 
• Copy of Certificate of analysis 
• Samples taken for analysis.  
• Documents to prove that the commodities are used for humanitarian relief. 

All goods will be inspected at the border and samples will be taken for analysis, but generally this process is done swiftly and don’t take time. 

Humanitarian aid is exempted from the custom fees; they just pay nominal amount as administrative expenses. While the commercial trucks pay roughly between 100-200 LD (depending on the size and type of the cargo). 

For more information on customs in Algeria, please see the following link: 1.3 Customs Information.  

Other Relevant Information

In general, if the clearance documents were ready, the custom clearance process would be finalized in few hours (unless the border is overcrowded),  

 In some cases, and especially for humanitarian aids the custom clearance process might be conducted out of working hours and on the weekend or holidays.  

 There are many items that are not allowed to be imported inside Algeria such as: 

• Alcoholic Beverages 
• Pork Meat

There is restriction in importing IT and telecommunication equipment from abroad. There no clear regulation but the humanitarian organizations have experienced difficulties in importing such equipment. This border was and still used for smuggling goods between the two countries (especially fuel from Algeria to Tunisia), so if there is a suspicion of smuggling, then the trucks and cars are subject to a stricter inspection.  There are many checkpoints controlled by different groups, along the way to the final distention. These check points impede and delay the movement of the trucks.   

For more information on government contact details, please see the following link:  4.1 Government Contact List.