Free import
• Visitors who live abroad and come to Togo for up to 12 months may bring in, free of duties and taxes, the personal items (including pets) they reasonably need for their own use during the trip. This is a temporary admission: the items may stay in Togo for 6 months (renewable once) and must be taken out again.
• Items admitted this way may not be sold, given away, lent, rented or used for paid work. Customs may ask for a temporary import declaration and a guarantee or deposit covering the duties.
• Other goods in your baggage must be declared, and duties and taxes paid. Gifts are in principle dutiable; gifts of very low value may be exempted.
Currency
• Travelers may bring in CFA franc banknotes and foreign-currency means of payment freely, subject to the declarations below.
• Anyone arriving from a country outside the UEMOA with cash or bearer negotiable instruments worth XOF 5,000,000 or more (in any currency) must declare them to customs at the point of entry.
• Non-residents must declare in writing, on arrival and on departure, foreign-currency cash and other means of payment worth more than XOF 500,000. Keep the declaration: you need it to take more than XOF 500,000 in foreign banknotes out of Togo.
• Residents of Togo returning from outside the UEMOA must sell foreign cash worth more than XOF 500,000 to an authorized bank or exchange office within 8 working days.
Prohibited
• Narcotics
Restricted
• Firearms, ammunition and explosives need prior authorization. Civilian weapons are controlled by the Ministry of Security and Civil Protection.
• Plants and plant products must be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate. Planting material (seeds, seedlings, cuttings) also needs an import permit obtained in advance from the Plant Protection Directorate (Direction de la Protection des Végétaux).
• Gold needs an authorization from the Minister of Finance; gold objects carried by travelers up to 500 g are exempt.
• Protected species of animals and plants and products made from them (CITES) need permits.
• Dogs and cats need a microchip, a current rabies vaccination and a veterinary health certificate. For pets from the United States, the certificate must be endorsed by the USDA.