Sacu/Mercosur Sign Trade Agreement The Common Market of the South (Mercosur) and the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) have signed a Preferential Trade Agreement. Mercosur comprises the Argentine Republic, the Republic of Brazil, the Republic of Paraguay and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay and Sacu the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Swaziland. Article 2 of the Agreement provides for the establishment of fixed preference margins as a first step towards the creation of a Free Trade Area (FTA) between Mercosur and Sacu. Demystifying Customs Valuation – Part 01 – Legislation Arguably the most talked about customs issue in recent weeks has been “customs valuation”. The amendments to the provisions of the Customs and Excise Act (the Act) in respect of customs valuation proved again just how important it is for companies to be proactive. Although these changes were first mentioned in the Government Gazette of 08 January 2009, but only introduced on 01 October 2009, their introduction still surprised a number of practitioners. Following the questions we received, we felt there would be real value in explaining the concept of customs valuation, based on a South African Revenue (Sars) publication titled “Frequently Asked Questions – Customs Valuations”. Let’s start at the beginning, with the Legislation and Rules administered by Sars. Before reading any further can you name the sections to the Act and the rules that apply? They are Sections 39A, 41, 65, 66, 67, 71,72, 73, 74 and 74A, 77A to 77H, and Rules 39.04, 41.01, 41.02, 41.03, 41.04, 41.05, 65.01, 65.02, 65.03, 66.01, 66.02, 66.03, 66.04, 66.05 and 77H. You will no doubt recall that these sections are based on an international agreement to which South Africa is a signatory – the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Implementation of Article VII of the GATT 1994. To start us on our way, we need to consider “actual value”, which is defined as “the price at which such or like goods are sold for export to South Africa, or offered for sale in the ordinary course of trade under fully competitive conditions. To the extent to which the price of such or like goods is governed by quantity in a particular transaction, the price to be considered should uniformly be related to either: (a) Comparable quantities; or (b) Quantities not less favourable to importers than those in which the greater volume of the imported goods is sold in the trade between the countries of exportation and importation”. If you want to derive maximum benefit from future columns, please look up the headings of the sections and rules to the Act. If you don’t have access to these then send us an email and we will forward you the relevant documentation. Application for Import Permits A notice was published in respect of the Application for Market Access Permits for Agricultural Products. Applications for import permits depend on the quarter for which such applications are made.
