Alan Peat
A QUERY from an FTW reader has allayed fears in the footwear industry of a crippling rise in import duty.
Johan Buckle of Megafreight had been informed by a client that the proposed duty structure for footwear was to be 30% ad valorem - or R12.60 a pair - and that this would come into effect March 1.
Checking the veracity of this information, Buckle contacted Andile Swana of the Department of Trade & Industry (DoT&I), and put his question.
These rumours are far from the truth, Swana answered.
The truth of the matter, he added, was that the Board on Tariffs & Trade (BoT&T) and his section of the DoT&I were still investigating the matter.
We haven't even sent a submission to the Board on our proposal, Swana said.
Once the investigation is finished, it then follows a long and winding bureaucratic trail - through a recommendation from the BoT&T; going to the Executive Board of DoT&I for consideration; via the Minister of T&I for approval - towards its final approval and implementation by the Minister of Finance and the Department of Customs & Excise.
How long this will take, Swana doesn't venture to say.
But certainly no truth - for the moment - in the rumour of dark duty clouds on the
horizon.
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