Ports Regulator – Regulatory Principles In a 60-page Government Gazette notice dated 06 August 2009, the Department of Transport published the Ports Regulator – Regulatory Principles. The Regulatory Principles are published for general information and come into operation on the date of publication, 06 August 2009. ITAC Workshop on the Draft Countervailing Regulations The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) has extended an invitation to all interested parties to attend a workshop on its recently published Draft Countervailing Regulations. Readers will recall that countervailing is one of the three trade remedies, the other two being dumping and safeguards. Countervailing and dumping are referred to as unfair trade remedies, whilst safeguards are referred to as fair trade remedies. In respect of countervailing duties, these are imposed on goods imported that have benefited from government incentives and specifically export incentives. Export incentives can be classified into three categories, namely prohibited export incentives (red light subsidies), actionable export incentives (amber light subsidies), and nonactionable export incentives (green light subsidies). At present South Africa and the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) only impose countervailing duties on ropes and cables of iron or steel, not electrically insulated, of a diameter exceeding 8 mm (excluding that of wire of stainless steel, that of wire plated, coated or clad with copper, and those identifiable as brass plated tyre reinforcing cord and conveyor belt cord) (excluding that manufactured by Apar Industries); and Stranded wire of iron or steel, not electrically insulated of a diameter exceeding 8 mm (excluding that of stainless steel, plated, coated or clad with copper or tin and those identifiable as brass plated tyre reinforcing cord and conveyor belt cord) (excluding Apar Industries) from India. The workshop is scheduled to take place on Thursday, 10 September 2009, from 09:00 to 13:00 at the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) Conference Centre, 370 Church Street, Pretoria. Draft Report on Customs Fraud in Respect of Textile, Clothing and Footwear The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) recently published its “Report of the NEDLAC Task Team on Customs Fraud in Respect of Textiles, Clothing and Footwear”. According to the document “customs fraud” is accepted to be any practice aimed at evading tariffs and other customs rules and includes under-invoicing, false declaration, rerouting via third countries, misuses of duty rebates and credits and corrupt payment to officials. An invitation has been extended to all interested parties to provide comment on the report. Proposed Bilateral Investment Treaty Policy Framework The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) has released, for public comment, its proposed “Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) Policy Framework”. The document is a review of the existing position, and also contains policy recommendations.
