Footwear rebate
created
On 23 May 2014 the South
African Revenue Service
(Sars) announced the
creation of a Rebate Item
312.01/6001.92/01.06
for the full rebate of the
customs duty on other
pile fabrics, knitted or
crocheted, of man-made
fibres, classifiable in tariff
subheading 6001.92, for the
manufacture of footwear
with uppers of textile
materials classifiable in
tariff Chapter 64.
The application was
lodged by The Little Slippery
Co who reasoned that there
were no Southern African
Customs Union (SACU)
manufacturers and that the
company was under threat
from imported slippers.
The investigation took
245 days or just over 8
months to complete.
Customs Valuation of
Software
The World Trade
Organisation (WTO) on 12
May 2014 announced that
the Committee on Customs
Valuation had discussed
a proposal by Uruguay
to update a 30-year-old
decision that has allowed
members to value, for
customs purposes, software
and data on the basis of the
cost of the carrier media
(such as magnetic tapes,
CDs and DVDs in which
they are transported from
one country to the other).
Uruguay proposed
updating the 1984 Decision
on the “Valuation of Carrier
Media Bearing Software
for Data Processing
Equipment”, which allowed
members, for customs
purposes, to value software
according to the cost of its
carrier media (CD-ROM or
magnetic tapes). Uruguay
said that under the current
decision, Customs may value
software in a CD-ROM
at U$5 while the same
software imported using
a USB key could be valued
at U$1 000. It said the
decision must be extended
to USB keys or flash drives
because of their growing
popularity as carrier media
for software. Argentina and
Mexico supported Uruguay’s
proposal. The USA, Canada,
the EU, Japan and the
Philippines said they were
open to the proposal and
were reviewing the issue.
The People’s Republic of
China had no objection to
the proposal but noted that
the Decision excluded songs
and movies from this kind
of valuation. It also asked
for statistics on the trade
volumes involved.
The chair requested the
WTO Secretariat to prepare
a study on the trade volumes
involved, as requested by
China.
Technical Barriers to
Trade
The WTO on 16 May 2014
announced the publication
of a new booklet on the
WTO’s Technical Barriers
to Trade (TBT) Agreement
that highlights the role of
the Agreement and the
work of the TBT Committee
in helping governments
address regulations and
standards that affect trade
in goods.
The TBT booklet is part
of the WTO Agreement
series, which aims to assist
understanding of WTO
agreements. This new
edition of Technical Barriers
to Trade has been fully
revised and expanded.
Duty Calls Watch List
Comment on the following is
due by 30 June 2014.
The draft interpretation
note on the supply of goods
and services by professional
foreign hunters.
The carbon offsets
paper and the review of
the taxation of alcoholic
beverages in South Africa.
Draft regulations for the
registration as Value-added
Tax (VAT) vendors.
DUTY CALLS
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