On 08 November 2022, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) published its draft rules amendments to Section 15 of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 - “To pilot electronic traveller management system”, on which comment is due by 22 November 2022.
According to SARS’ ‘Explanatory Note’, the draft rule is proposed to clarify the status of an electronic traveller declaration submitted by travellers who voluntarily participate in the testing of the electronic South African traveller management system during the pilot phase of the project at ports of entry or exit where the pilot phase is implemented. The pilot phase is set to start at King Shaka International Airport on 29 November 2022, when the electronic declaration will be made available to travellers online.
If a traveller voluntarily submits the electronic traveller declaration during the pilot phase, such submission will be regarded to be submission of a TC-01 for purposes of Rule 15. If a traveller chooses to not participate in the pilot and not submit an electronic traveller declaration, the manual process set out in rule 15 must be followed.
Please note that no other changes to current legislation are at this stage being effected; any such proposed changes will be consulted in due course.