Miscellaneous tax corrections On 4 November 2014 National Treasury called for the submission of technical taxation proposals for possible inclusion in Annexure C (Miscellaneous tax amendments) of the 2015 Budget Review, on which comment is due by 25 November 2014. (It also appears on the South African Revenue Service website.) In accordance with the Explanatory Note submissions are invited in connection with any “unintended anomalies, loopholes and technical matters” requiring correction in existing tax legislation. This does not include major tax proposals. The submission of major tax proposals needs to be directed to the Chief Director: Legal Tax Design at the Tax Policy Unit. Annual Tariff and Trade Data The World Trade Organisation (WTO) on 28 October 2014 released the 2014 editions of its tariff and trade publications: International Trade Statistics; Trade Profiles; World Tariff Profiles; and Services Profiles. In addition to the publications the WTO Statistics web page contains updates of the International Trade and Market Access Data; the Statistics Database; Tariff Analysis applications; World and Regional Export Profiles; World Commodity Profiles; and World Maps, which allow for comparison between countries or customs territories on selected economic indicators. WTO TBT notifications The WTO Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) Agreement has a transparency obligation that requires WTO member countries to publish and notify the WTO, which in turn notifies its member countries, of any draft technical regulations at least 60 days in advance of adoption. The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), the South African TBT Enquiry Point, provides a weekly “Early Warning System for WTO/TBT Notifications” email, which contains the notifications on all proposed technical regulations for a specific week. The notification urges recipients to comment on the draft technical regulations within five working days from the receipt of the notification. Should you be interested in receiving the weekly “Early Warning System for WTO/ TBT Notifications” you need simply to contact Ronel Greyvenstein, WTO/TBT Enquiry Officer at the SABS, at ronel.greyvenstein@sabs. co.za. This week Customs Buzz will introduce the WTO TBT Notifications, providing a summary of the notifications. Tariff amendments There were no tariff amendments (including trade remedy amendments) for the week ending 07 November 2014. The last amendment was published on 10 October 2014. Trade applications The last tariff application was published on 22 August 2014 and the last trade remedy application on 19 September 2014. Duty Calls’ Watch List The publication of the 2015 Customs tariff amendments is expected by 29 November 2014. Comment on the “Third Batch” of draft Rules to the Customs Control Act is due by 14 November 2014. The anticipated application for an increase in the “General” rate of customs duty on tariff subheadings 7210.41; 7210.49, 7212.30, 7210.61, 7210.90, 7225.99.90, 7210.70 and 7212.40.
