The status of the free export company is limited to agriculture, in a broader sense, industry and teleservices.

In order to be certified, a company must have an export potential amounting to at least 80% of its turnover.

Certification to the status of a free export company guarantees the following:

• Free transfer of the funds necessary to the performance of investment and business and financial transactions towards countries outside the franc zone;
• Free transfer of salaries for foreign employees ;
• Free transfer of dividends for foreign shareholders;
• Recruitment of foreign staff without any restrictions;
• arbitration of the International Centre for the settlement of investment-related disputes (CIRDI) .

Besides these guarantees, specific benefits are granted to companies.

These benefits are valid for 25 years renewable from the date the law is applied (15 October 1996).

APIX has 30 days to process applications for certification. Beyond this deadline, and without any feedback from APIX, the certification is deemed to be granted.

For all kinds of companies

• An request addressed to the Minister of Finance, providing details of the activity and project location;
• A national identification paper for one-man businesses, a notarised copy of the company’s Articles of Association for artificial persons or a notarised attestation that the company is in the process of being set up.
• A data sheet in ten copies describing the markets targeted, turnover distribution between local sales and exports, as well as details of the amount of investments needed to achieve these objectives.

For existing enterprises

• Financial statements of the last accounting period;
• Statement of the customs export entries for the last two years featuring the value and weight of exported products. This statement must be certified as accurate by the Bureau of Customs;
• A statement of the VAT declaration for the last two years certified by the tax authorities ;
• A manufacturing or production certificate (for agricultural enterprises) for each product exported.

They must :

• Send in an annual tax declaration at the General Tax Division and at the Division of Customs ;
• Send in a monthly turnover declaration at the General Tax Division and at the Division of Customs;
• Send in declarations for all exported or imported products at the Division of Customs;
• Send in the company’s accounting and financial figures at the General Direction of Statistics;
• Send in at APIX the annual financial statements certified by an auditing firm, as well as data on the distribution of sales between exported products and those sold on the local market;
• have exports figures making up at least 80 % of their turnover.

The status of a free export company allows for the recruitment of expatriate staff without any restrictions.

However, companies must submit the labour contract at the Labour Director, who must deliver a reply within fifteen (15) days.

The foreign staff must have permission to reside beforehand.

CATEGORY	BENEFITS
Companies	Exemption from customs duties and duty stamps on utilitarian vehicles and tourism vehicles and means of transportation clearly intended for production; Exemption from taxes based on salaries paid by companies; Exemption from all registration and stamp duties when registering a company and modifying its Articles of Association; Exemption from patent fee, property tax on constructed and unconstructed property, and from the licence fee; Exemption from the taxes on Income for Stocks and Shares drawn by the firm on the dividends distributed; Corporate income tax collected at a rate of 15%. N.B. : concessionary companies remain subjected to fees and taxes on the geological, mining, maritime or forestry domain.
Goods	Exporting or importing of duty free investment goods, of material, raw material, finished or semi-finished products; Purchase of local duty-free products; There is no limit on the length of stay in Senegalese territory of merchandise imported by free export companies; Possibility of selling part of the production on the local market; No house flag restrictions for the transportation of goods.