The ACID Number: What It Is, How to Get One, and Why Cargo Stalls Without It

The ACID number is a unique 19-digit code that Egyptian customs assigns to a single inbound shipment through the NAFEZA portal. The Egyptian importer registers the shipment on NAFEZA, the system issues the ACID, and that number must then be printed on the commercial invoice, the certificate of origin and the bill of lading or air waybill. If the ACID is missing from those documents — or never issued at all — Egyptian customs will not clear the goods, and the cargo can be returned to origin at the carrier’s or agent’s expense. This guide explains exactly what the ACID is, how to obtain one, how long it stays valid, what it costs, and the specific failures that leave containers stuck at port.

Compliance note: The procedures, validity periods and fees below are on record with the Egyptian Customs Authority, Misr Technology Services (MTS) and the accredited platform CargoX as of June 2026. Egyptian customs rules change by ministerial decree at short notice. Verify the current requirement on nafeza.gov.eg or with your customs broker before acting.

What the ACID number is

ACID stands for Advance Cargo Information Declaration number. It is the output of Egypt’s Advance Cargo Information (ACI) procedure — the pre-shipment registration regime that became mandatory for sea cargo on 1 October 2021 under Ministry of Finance Decree 38/2021 (issued 1 February 2021).

Three properties define it:

• It is unique and 19 digits long. The ACID is “a unique 19-digit number” generated by NAFEZA once the Egyptian importer registers the import shipment (Source: CargoX Help Center, What is the ACID number and where can I get it?, updated 22 September 2025, cargox.help).
• It is per shipment, not per company. A company registers on NAFEZA once; it then requests a fresh ACID for every shipment. The ACID is the key customs uses “to match the ACI documents belonging to the right incoming shipment.”
• It travels on the documents. The ACID has to be quoted on the invoice, certificate of origin and transport document so that the paperwork and the physical cargo can be reconciled on arrival.

In plain terms: the ACID is the shipment’s fingerprint inside Egypt’s customs system. No fingerprint, no clearance.

ACID vs NAFEZA vs ACI — keeping the terms straight

These three get conflated constantly:

You register once on NAFEZA, run the ACI procedure per shipment, and receive one ACID each time. For the platform and account side — registration, the digital signature, document formats — see our companion guide, NAFEZA Explained: Registering Your Shipment on Egypt’s Single Window System.

Who needs an ACID and who issues it

The ACID can only be requested by the Egyptian importer (or a customs broker acting on the importer’s behalf). It is issued by the Egyptian Customs Authority through NAFEZA. The foreign exporter cannot generate it — the exporter’s role is to receive the ACID and reference it on the documents it transmits.

(Source: NAFEZA, Advance Cargo Information System, nafeza.gov.eg/en/pages/15; U.S. International Trade Administration, Egypt – Import Requirements & Documentation, trade.gov.)

How to get an ACID number — step by step

The ACID is produced inside the ACI declaration on NAFEZA. The prerequisites and the per-shipment flow:

Prerequisites (one-time)

1. A NAFEZA commercial account. Open a new account at nafeza.gov.eg, upgrade it to a commercial account to activate e-services, then verify and match your data in person at a NAFEZA Logistics Services Center.
2. A digital signature / e-token. ACI filing requires a digital signature obtained from an accredited Egyptian certification authority. Without it you cannot lodge a declaration.
3. A valid importer record. You must hold a current Egyptian importer registration to import commercially; NAFEZA does not grant this separately.

Per shipment

1. Log in to NAFEZA and select Request ACID.
2. Confirm importer data (pre-filled from your account) and enter the foreign exporter’s data.
3. Enter key shipment data, then the detailed blocks NAFEZA requires: inventory and item data (approved value, customs system, arrival customs, customs item number, item description, country of origin, statistical quantity/weight); initial bill of lading data if available (bill number, ports of loading and arrival, shipping company, freight number, transport name, gross/net weight, parcels); and invoice information (invoice/PO number and date, contract type, invoice value, currency, exporter nationality, and line-item detail with tariff item, weights, quantity and price).
4. Select “Request to issue ACID.”
5. NAFEZA emails the ACID automatically to both the importer and the foreign exporter.

(Source: NAFEZA, Advance Cargo Information (ACI) Phase 1 Steps, nafeza.gov.eg/en/pages/16.)

What happens after the ACID is issued

The ITA sets out the downstream customs sequence: customs issues the ACID within 48 hours and notifies both parties; the exporter electronically transmits the shipment documentation, ensuring the ACID is referenced throughout; the importer certifies the data the exporter sent is correct; the vessel loads and departs; the importer pays import taxes and fees; the vessel arrives and the shipment is offloaded; a joint committee inspects; and Egyptian customs clear the shipment (Source: ITA, trade.gov).

The exporter’s side: documents and the blockchain platform

Once the importer has the ACID, the foreign exporter has to get the documents into NAFEZA. Egypt routes this through an accredited blockchain document platform; the provider named on the NAFEZA system pages is CargoX.

The exporter (one-time): registers a free CargoX account and completes a mandatory verification before it can file. Then, per shipment, it composes an “ACI envelope” — the documents referencing the ACID — and sends it so the data reaches NAFEZA on the vessel’s departure (Source: NAFEZA, nafeza.gov.eg/en/pages/15).

Documents that ride under the ACID

Each file must stay under 5 MB (Source: NAFEZA, Documents required to create an ACI file, nafeza.gov.eg/en/pages/32).

What the ACID costs

CargoX’s ACI fees are paid by the exporter and, as published 5 January 2026, are:

(Source: CargoX Help Center, Egypt ACI pricing, cargox.help.) CargoX prices in “units (𝕌)”; confirm the current unit-to-USD conversion when you file. These platform charges are separate from Egyptian customs duties and taxes.

Amending or re-sending after the ACID is issued

Trade data is rarely perfect on the first pass — a weight is revised, a line item is added, the vessel changes. The ACI regime allows the filing to be corrected after issuance, and the platform charges reflect this: CargoX states the ACI filing fee is charged once per ACID, so amending or re-sending the filing later does not incur another processing fee (Source: CargoX Help Center, Egypt ACI pricing, cargox.help). The document-transfer fee still applies only to new documents uploaded to the blockchain; forwarding a document already received through the platform is free, because the original sender already paid its blockchain fee.

The practical implication: an honest correction is cheap, but it costs time. Each amendment is screened again, and a correction made after the goods have shipped is worth far less than getting the data right before departure. The amendment route is a safety valve, not a substitute for a clean first filing.

What the ACID does not replace

The ACID clears one gate. It is easy to assume it covers the whole import, and it does not.

• It is not an importer licence. You must already hold a valid Egyptian importer registration to import commercially. The ACID is per-shipment; the importer record is the standing permission to trade. NAFEZA does not issue the latter.
• It is not GOEIC factory registration. For many product categories, the foreign factory and brand must be registered with the General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC) before the goods are imported — a framework that includes Decree 43/2016 (Source: trade advisories on GOEIC registration of foreign factories; see export2gulf.com). A correct ACID on a shipment from an unregistered factory still fails GOEIC. We cover this in GOEIC Inspection and Registration: Getting Goods Cleared Without Surprises.
• It is not NFSA food approval. Food, food ingredients and food-contact materials add a National Food Safety Authority layer. The ACID lets the shipment be declared; NFSA registration decides whether the food product is allowed in. See NFSA Registration & Food Import Approval in Egypt.
• It is not a customs-duty payment. The ACID identifies the shipment; duties and taxes are assessed and paid separately in the clearance process.

Read the ACID as the entry ticket to the queue — necessary, but not the same as passing every checkpoint in it.

How long an ACID number is valid

The ACID is valid for six months from the date of registration. It can be renewed for a further similar period for justified reasons, subject to ministerial approval (Source: Timber Exchange, reporting the Egyptian customs extension of ACID validity to six months, timber.exchange; corroborated by trade advisories on the ACI regime). Because validity is tied to the registration date, an ACID requested too far ahead of a delayed shipment can expire before the goods arrive — a practical reason to time the request to the actual shipping window, not the moment the order is placed.

Validity periods have changed since ACI launched (the early regime used a shorter window before the extension to six months). Treat the six-month figure as the current rule and verify it for your shipment, since renewal rests on case-by-case approval.

Why cargo stalls without a correct ACID

Most ACID-related delays trace back to one of five failures. Each is avoidable.

1. No ACID was obtained. If the importer never filed the ACI declaration, there is no ACID to put on the documents, and the shipment cannot be cleared. This is the base case.
2. The ACID is missing from the documents. Even when issued, an ACID that is not quoted on the invoice, certificate of origin and bill of lading / air waybill fails. The ITA and trade advisories are blunt: goods whose freight documents lack the ACID are not cleared in Egypt and can be returned at the carrier’s or agent’s expense.
3. The data doesn’t match. NAFEZA runs a risk-based inspection model: each commodity is routed onto a pathway (a “green” pathway skips routine sampling and gets expedited clearance, though green shipments still face random audit). Discrepancies between the declared figures and the actual documents — value, weight, HS code, origin, item description — pull the shipment off the fast lane and into examination (Source: ITA, trade.gov). The HS (tariff) code is the most consequential single field here: it drives the duty rate, the inspection pathway and which control agency claims the shipment. A code entered loosely at the ACID stage — say, classifying a functional food additive as a generic chemical — can route the cargo to the wrong authority and trigger a re-declaration. Classify against the actual product, not the nearest-sounding heading.
4. The 48-hour lead time was missed. ACI data and documents must be filed at least 48 hours before the cargo ships so the Risk Management System can screen it (Source: NAFEZA, nafeza.gov.eg/en/pages/15). File late and the shipment is out of compliance from the start.
5. The ACID expired or the exporter wasn’t verified. An ACID past its six-month validity, or an exporter who never completed the mandatory platform verification, both block the document flow. The shipment waits while the gap is fixed.

How Innovote sources this

For shipments of flavourings, food additives, packaging resins, aquarium hardware and machinery into Egypt, the ACID is where an otherwise-clean order quietly fails. Our approach:

• We obtain the ACID with the right timing. As, or alongside, the importer of record, we file the ACI declaration on NAFEZA and pull the ACID with margin beyond the 48-hour minimum — and we time the request to the shipping window so a six-month validity doesn’t lapse on a delayed sailing.
• We make sure the ACID lands on every document. We send the foreign supplier the issued ACID and confirm it is printed on the commercial invoice, certificate of origin and bill of lading / air waybill before the goods load. A missing ACID on the paperwork is the single most common, and most expensive, ACID failure.
• We pre-reconcile the declaration. Value, weight, HS code, country of origin and item descriptions are matched across the invoice, packing list and draft B/L before the ACID request goes in, so the shipment holds its inspection pathway instead of being pulled for examination.
• We verify the exporter once, early. New suppliers are walked through the one-time platform verification well ahead of the first sailing, so the document transfer doesn’t stall on a step that should have been done weeks earlier.

Tell us the spec and the origin, and we’ll come back with the grade, MOQ, lead time, the ACI/ACID handling and a landed-cost view.

FAQ

What is an ACID number in Egypt?
A unique 19-digit Advance Cargo Information Declaration number that Egyptian customs assigns to a single inbound shipment through NAFEZA. It must appear on the shipment’s invoice, certificate of origin and transport document for the cargo to be cleared (Source: CargoX, cargox.help).

How do I get an ACID number?
The Egyptian importer (or its broker) files an ACI declaration on NAFEZA — confirming importer data, entering the exporter and shipment data, and selecting “Request to issue ACID.” NAFEZA emails the ACID to both the importer and exporter, with issuance within 48 hours (Source: NAFEZA, nafeza.gov.eg/en/pages/16).

How long is an ACID number valid?
Six months from the date of registration, renewable for a similar period for justified reasons subject to ministerial approval. Validity rules have changed before, so verify the current period for your shipment (Source: timber.exchange).

Can a foreign exporter get the ACID number?
No. Only the Egyptian importer or its customs broker can request the ACID. The exporter receives the number and references it on the documents it transmits through the accredited blockchain platform (Source: NAFEZA, nafeza.gov.eg/en/pages/15).

Why is my cargo stuck without an ACID?
The likely causes: no ACID was requested; the ACID is missing from the freight documents; the declared data doesn’t match the documents; the filing missed the 48-hour pre-shipment window; or the ACID expired / the exporter was never verified. Goods whose documents lack a valid ACID are not cleared and can be returned at the carrier’s expense (Source: ITA, trade.gov).

Is one ACID enough for repeat shipments?
No. The ACID is issued per shipment. Your NAFEZA account is reused, but each new consignment needs its own ACID requested through a fresh ACI declaration.

Keep reading

• Hub: The Complete Guide to Importing into Egypt: NAFEZA, ACID, GOEIC, NFSA, Incoterms & QC
• Previous: NAFEZA Explained: Registering Your Shipment on Egypt’s Single Window System
• Next: GOEIC Inspection and Registration: Getting Goods Cleared Without Surprises

Sources: NAFEZA / Misr Technology Services — Advance Cargo Information System, ACI Phase 1 Steps, Documents required to create an ACI file; U.S. International Trade Administration — Egypt: Import Requirements & Documentation (MoF Decree 38/2021); CargoX Help Center — What is the ACID number, Egypt ACI pricing; Timber Exchange — ACID validity extended to six months. Rules and fees verified June 2026; Egyptian customs procedures change by decree — verify before filing.

— Innovote Trade Desk

Tell us the spec; we’ll come back with grade, MOQ, lead time and a landed-cost path. Talk to the Trade Desk →