ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s customs authority announced on Sunday that it will auction more than 1,200 boxes of confiscated and abandoned alcoholic beverages, despite a federal law prohibiting the import, manufacture and sale of alcohol.
The Customs Directorate of the Central Region said in a statement that it would hold public auctions on Wednesday and next Monday for "confiscated and abandoned goods (alcoholic beverages)” and sell them “exclusively to eligible buyers who meet the conditions of sale and hold import licenses as operators of duty-free shops (departure halls only)."
A table accompanying the statement listed 1,221 boxes of various types of whiskey, vodka and arak, as well as one box of wine, with a total estimated value of 17.199 million dinars.
The customs authority did not provide details on when or where the beverages were confiscated.
Article 262 of Iraq’s Customs Law No. 23 of 1984 says the Customs Administration “may sell goods and all kinds of transport vehicles, even if their importation is banned, suspended or restricted”. Article 263 says such sales “shall be carried out by public auction.”
The handling of confiscated alcohol was specifically examined by Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council in a study published in March 2025 after customs authorities sought clarification over differing court decisions.
The study noted that some courts had ordered confiscated alcoholic beverages destroyed, while others had ordered them handed over to customs authorities for disposal in accordance with the law.
It concluded that Article 262 of the Customs Law allows the Customs Administration to sell goods even when their import is prohibited, restricted or suspended, and recommended that courts apply the provision in cases involving confiscated alcoholic beverages.
The auction comes despite Article 14 of the Law on Municipalities Revenue No. 1 of 2023, which imposes a nationwide prohibition on alcohol, stating, “It is prohibited to import, manufacture, and sell alcoholic beverages of all kinds.”
A second provision of Article 14 imposes fines of between 10 million and 25 million dinars on violators.
Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court rejected challenges to the constitutionality of the alcohol ban in August 2023, leaving Article 14 in force.
The planned auction highlights an apparent tension between the 2023 prohibition on the sale of alcoholic beverages and provisions of the older Customs Law governing the disposal of confiscated or abandoned goods.
*The official exchange rate is 1,310 Iraqi dinars to the US dollar.
