A weekly summary of the main changes to the South African tariff dispensation and amendments to customs and excise legislation. Compiled by Riaan de Lange of Jet Intelligence. E-mail: riaan@tariff.co.za Madagascar – SADC FTA Member The Republic of Madagascar became the 11th Southern African Development Community (SADC) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) member. If you are importing from Madagascar, or if you are planning to do so, you should consider the rate of customs duty that now applies, and also the possible refund. African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has advised that handloomed articles, handmade, folklore articles, or ethnic printed fabrics, if produced in and exported from South Africa, are eligible for preferential tariff treatment under Agoa. Proposed Rule Amendments: Fuel Levy Goods Sars has published proposed amendments to the Rules of the Customs and Excise Act (the Act). These amendments relate to the provisions for the movement of fuel levy goods obtained by a licensee of a manufacturing warehouse from the storage tank of another licensee. Comment is due on 14 December 2007. Proposed Rule Amendments: SAD Sars has published proposed amendments to the Rules of the Act. These proposed amendments relate to a number of Single Administrative Documents (SAD), for which, amongst others, amendments to the documents are proposed. Comment is due on 14 December 2007. Draft Amendment to the South African Tariff The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has published the draft amendment to Schedule No. 1 Part 1 of the Customs and Excise Act 1964 i.e. “Ordinary Customs Duty”, which is scheduled to be implemented with effect from 01 January 2 008. No Tariff Amendments – 30 November 2007 Tariff Applications – Response Due In recent weeks you have been inundated with tariff applications, possibly to the extent that you just want to ignore them – please don’t. The products in question are: household refrigerators, collapsible paddling pools, polymer of vinyl chloride (PVC), aluminium products, chemicals and chemical products, textiles and clothing. The latter two essentially refer to the industry as a whole. Comment due by 21 December 2007. No Trade Remedy Amendments – 30 November 2007
