Wheelbarrow dumping duty On 4 September 2015 the South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced the imposition of definitive anti-dumping duties on wheelbarrows originating in or imported from the People’s Republic of China. [The notice states that the imposition of the antidumping duties is with retrospective effect from 6 March 2015. This means that the provisional antidumping duties were imposed on that date.] The notice announced the insertion of anti-dumping items 215.02/8716.80.10/01.08, 215.02/8716.80.10/02.08 and 215.02/8716.80.10/03.08. Item 215.02/8716.80.10/01.08 ‘Wheelbarrows manufactured by Qingdao Youhe Handtruck Co Ltd China’, at a rate of anti-dumping duty of 32.32%; Item 215.02/8716.80.10/02.08 ‘Wheelbarrows manufactured by Qingdao Wantai Special Handtruck Co Ltd China” at a rate of anti-dumping duty of 39.92%; and Item 215.02/8716.80.10/03.08 “Wheelbarrows (excluding that manufactured by Qingdao Yongyi Metal Products Co Ltd; Qingdao Youhe Handtruck Co Ltd and Qingdao Wantai Special Handtruck Co Ltd, China” at a rate of anti-dumping duty of 29.82%. The application was lodged by Lasher Tools which already has definitive antidumping duties imposed on spades and shovels of a maximum blade width of more than 200 mm but not exceeding 320 mm (tariff subheading 8201.10.10); picks (tariff subheading 8201.30.03); rakes with more than eight prongs (tariff subheading 8201.90.20); and forks with a prong length exceeding 150 mm (excluding forks with eight or more prongs) (tariff subheading 8201.90.20). Lasher Tools arguably benefits from the most anti-dumping duties on its products, and also has the oldest (longest running antidumping duties) imposed on its products. Draft Tax Laws Sars on 1 September 2015 advised that the Standing Committee on Finance (SCoF) had issued an invitation for written submissions and requests to make oral presentation on the Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill and the Draft Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill to reach the SCoF by no later than 12:00 on 14 September 2015. Both bills contain proposed amendments to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964, the Customs Duty Act, 2014 and the Customs Control Act, 2014. New Customs Legislation In a Sars letter titled “Update on new customs legislation” dated 14 August 2015, Sars' chief officer: legal and policy stated: “We are currently setting a date for the next rules workshop which we hope to have within the next few weeks to discuss comments on the Duty Act rules.” The letter also stated: “We will soon be launching a dedicated web page on the Sars website for updates on the new Customs legislation …”. At the time of preparation of this column the date for the next rules workshop was not known, nor was there any information on the launch of a dedicated web page.
