DUTY CALLS

Croatia’s accession to
the EU
On 06 May the South African
Revenue Service (Sars)
published an amendment
to the rules to the Customs
and Excise Act, 1964 (Act)
and to the ‘General Notes’
to Schedule No1 to the Act
to give effect to the Republic
of Croatia’s accession to
the European Union (EU)
protocol of trade, with
retrospective effect to
01 July 2013.
HS 2017 – Comment due
Sars on 03 May published
draft notices on the proposed
changes to the schedules
to the Act to account for
the Customs Co-operation
Council’s (known as the World
Customs Organisation or
WCO) Harmonised System
(HS) 2017 Nomenclature
recommendations, to be
introduced on 01 January
2017, which were accepted on
27 June 2014, and the WCO’s
complementary amendments
accepted as a result of its 11
June 2015 recommendations.
Fermented Beverages –
Comment due
On 04 May Sars published
draft amendments for the
insertion of note 6 and
refund items 620.22/104.15,
620.23/104.16 and
620.24/104.17 in section c
to part 1 of schedule no 6 to
the Act. The amendments
are to provide for the refund
provisions for the return of
duty paid wine, vermouth
and other fermented
beverages which have gone
off specification, or in respect
of which post-manufacture
deterioration has occurred.
Comment is due by
18 May 2016.
New imported vehicles
Sars will host a discussion
forum on the movement of
new imported vehicles on
own wheels, on 16 May at its
Pretoria head office.
Steel dumping increase
Following a series of World
Trade Organisation (WTO)
meetings (Committee on
Safeguards, Committee on
Subsidies and Countervailing
Measures, and Committee
on Anti-dumping Practices)
during the week of 25-29
April 2016, it was reported
that problems in the global
steel sector were prompting
governments to increase their
use of trade remedy measures
to protect their domestic
producers. Several members
expressed the belief that the
overcapacity in the steel sector
and the resulting distortions
in steel trade were triggering
an increase in the initiation
of safeguard and antidumping
investigations on
steel products. According to a
member, 41 new anti-dumping
investigations targeting steel
imports were triggered in
2015 compared to 23 in 2012
and 2013. The same member
cited serious concerns with the
growing number of safeguard
measures targeting steel
imports over recent years.
Concerns were also
expressed about the absence
of information regarding
government subsidy
programmes in general as
well as subsidy programmes
provided to steel producers.
Many members observed
that compliance with the
obligation to notify specific
subsidies was low and
declining, and that this was
a major systemic problem for
the operation of the subsidies
agreement.
Duty Calls’ Watch List
Comment on the application
of the proposed increase
in ‘general’ rate of customs
duty on stainless steel flat
products is due on 20 May
2016.
Applications for
participation in a trade
and investment mission to
Ghana and Nigeria close on
08 June 2016.