Customs rules comments - another delay

Comments on the rules and regulations guiding South Africa’s new customs laws will not be completed this year as intended. Experts involved in providing comment said only the first 30 chapters of the Customs Control Act had been published and comments were still to come. At least another ten chapters are still outstanding while none of the rules and regulations of the Customs Duty Act have yet been published. “Whilst the duty act is not as crucial to industry as the control act it has 244 sections and is a significant piece of legislation. Commentary on its rules and regulations will take time,” said an industry source. It has been slow going on the first 30 chapters of the control act with the process slowing down significantly in recent weeks as the material has become more and more complex. “We are now commenting on the third set of rules and regulations for which commentary has to be completed by the end of November. Even if they were to publish the remaining rules by December there is no way we can complete this process this year – and so it takes us into 2015.”