Bonds – External Policy The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has released its External Policy for Bonds dated 25 April 2013, with which it also published its External Standard Operating Procedure for Bonds dated 15 June 2012. According to the External Policy it covers (a)(i) The standards used to determine the amount of security and the criteria used to review the amount of security; (ii) The registration, cancellation, increase or decrease and governance of bonds and addendums which are the acceptable forms of security; and (iii) Surety where it is a condition of approval, registration, licensing or designation. (b) Cash deposits on provisional payments (DA 70) in lieu of bonds are no longer accepted as surety for any new applications. Cash deposits will only be accepted for duty and/or Value-added Tax (VAT) which are due or may become due pending compliance with a specified condition or obligation to Customs within a stipulated period, (eg, the declaration process). (c) This document does not apply to: (i) Licensing, registration and designation; (ii) Completion of bonds and addendums; (iii) Excise bonds; (iv) Other forms of security, for eg, placing liens are covered in the enforcement procedures; and (v) Plant and machinery which cannot be used as security to cover any Customs security risks. Liechtenstein WTO Agreement On 02 May 2013 Liechtenstein became the first World Trade Organisation (WTO) member to ratify the Amendment to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) that was adopted on 30 March 2012. The GPA, a plurilateral agreement within the WTO system, provides a framework for the progressive liberalisation of markets for the procurement of goods, services and construction services (public works). It is built around the principles of nondiscrimination, transparency and procedural fairness, and embodies a set of best practices in public procurement based on the experience of the participating governments. The existing version of the agreement was developed in parallel with the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. The revised text of the agreement and expansion of related market access commitments attached to the protocol were negotiated by the parties over a period of more than ten years. The negotiation reached a political conclusion in 2011, prior to the formal adoption of the results of the negotiations in March 2012. Currently, the GPA covers 42 WTO members. A further ten WTO members have applied for accession to the agreement (Albania, China, Georgia, Jordan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, New Zealand, Oman, Panama and Ukraine). Seven other members have commitments to join the GPA as part of their WTO accession protocols: Croatia, the former Macedonia, Mongolia, Montenegro, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia and Tajikistan. In addition, the GPA is used extensively as a template for government procurement chapters in bilateral or regional trade agreements, including with non-parties to the agreement. The coming into force of the Protocol of Amendment is expected to encourage additional interest in accession to the agreement by other WTO members, in part based on the new flexibilities and transitional measures that it incorporates. Rule Amendment Comments are due by 15 May 2013 in respect of the draft rule amendments under Sections 19 and 120 of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 (the Act). Amendment to the rules that apply to Section 19(9) by the deletion of the definition of “Maturation” and the word “and” in Rule 19.08(d).
