Provisional Anti-Dumping Duties on Sinks The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has announced the imposition of provisional payments (provisional antidumping duties) on stainless steel kitchen sinks (7324.10) imported from or originating in Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China (China). The provisional payment is imposed from 09 April 2009 until 08 October 2009 (for a period of 6-months). In respect of Malaysia, the provisional payments are either 10.70% or 95.84% depending on whether the product is imported from Central Aluminium Manufactory SDN BHD or from any exporter other than this company. In the instance of China there are three rates of duty depending on whether it is imported from Rhine Sinkwares Manufacturing Ltd (10.84%), Zhuhai Dali Metal Product Co Ltd (20.62%), or any other exporter (62.41%). The application was lodged by Franke Kitchen Systems (owners of Defy Appliances (Pty) Ltd, and was initiated in the Government Gazette of 25 July 2008. You will recall that in last week’s column we announced the Defy Application, for which comment is due by 17 April 2009. That is in respect of the creation of a manufacturing rebate for electric heating resistors used in the manufacture of solid-plate stoves, solid-plate hobs and solid-plate tabletop cooker. A copy of the report that provides the argument and reasoning for the imposition of the provisional payments is now available. If you have not done so before, you may well want to spend some time establishing the reasons why the provisional payments were imposed. Transnet’s Pipeline Tariffs – Meeting In our column of 03 April 2009 we mentioned an article that had appeared in the Business Report on that day titled “Fuels Sector Heats up over Transnet Tariff Bid – Nersa to Determine Public’s Interest in Pipeline Dispute”. In Business Day of 08 April 2009 the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa) published a notice i.r.o. “A Public Hearing – Invitation to Attend the Public Hearing on the Transnet Pipelines Petroleum Pipe-lines Revised Tariff Application”. The application is for a 74.42% increase in petroleum pipeline tariffs. Detailed Trade Statistics – January 2009 One of the more important issues for any South African company to monitor is that of import and export statistics. The detailed monthly trade for January 2009, in other words the 4-digit tariff heading and the 6-, and 8-digit tariff subheadings, are now available. With the advent of the internet this information is just a click away. If you are interested in obtaining the trade statistics you can go to www.tradeinsight.co.za. On the website you will also find an explanation of the February 2009 trade statistics. Guideline on Small Merger Notification The Competition Commission has announced the merger threshold as at 01 April 2009. The lower threshold is for companies with a combined turnover/asset value of R560m, and a target turnover/asset value of R80m. The higher threshold is for companies with a combined turnover/asset value of R6 600m, and a target turnover/asset value of R190m. If you are interested in learning more about any of the articles in this week’s column, please send me an email with the headline of the article in the title.
