01 July 2010 – Could we Forget? What were you up to on 01 July 2010? Did you celebrate the significance of the day? That was when the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) celebrated its centenary. The oldest operational customs union in the world turned 100, an event which not even its own website celebrated. According to a weekend newspaper report, the heads of state of Sacu (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland) are scheduled to meet in Pretoria in the next few days to discuss the union’s future. No doubt high on the agenda will be the revenue-sharing formula, which accounts for the division of customs duty and excise duty collected by the Sacu members. A New Harmonised System Convention Signatory If you are presently trading with or intend to trade with Liberia, the following might well be of interest. The WCO announced that Liberia had deposited its instrument of accession to the International Convention on the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System, also known as the Harmonised System, with the WCO’s Secretary General. Liberia, a member of the WCO since 07 January 1975, becomes the 138th Contracting Party to the Harmonised System Convention. Liberia is situated on the west coast of Africa bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), and the Atlantic Ocean. Its principal export commodities are rubber, timber, iron, diamonds, cocoa and coffee, and its principal import commodities are fuels, chemicals, machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured goods and foodstuffs. The Harmonised System Convention will enter into force in Liberia on 01 January 2012 unless Liberia decides to specify an earlier date. A South African at the WCO Erich Kieck the Group Executive: Customs Strategy and Policy at the South African Revenue Service (Sars), was elected to head capacity building at the WCO in Brussels, Belgium. He will start his five-year term at the WCO on 01 January 2011, replacing the current director Lars Karlsson from Sweden. ZHU Gaozhang of the People’s Republic of China was elected to head the compliance and facilitation portfolio, also for a five-year term. Insertion Environmental Levy Comment in respect of Sars’ proposed introduction of an “Environmental Levy on Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions of Motor Vehicles” is due today, 16 July 2010. The proposed draft amendments relate to: (i) The insertion of Environmental Levy in Schedule No.1 Part 3D to the Customs and Excise Act (the Act); (ii) The insertion of “Refunds of Environmental Levy on Imported Goods”, and “Environmental Levy Goods Exported”; (iii) The insertion of Rules 54FB.01 to 54FB.05 to the Act; and (iv) The insertion of form DA177 “Environmental Levy Account for Carbon Dioxide Emission Levy”. The proposed amendments are expected to enter into force on 01 September 2010.
