DUTY CALLS

Diesel Goods Vehicles
The South African Revenue
Service (Sars) on 26 August
announced an amendment of
Part 1 of Schedule No 1 to the
Customs and Excise Act, 1964
(“Ordinary Customs Duty”)
calling for the substitution,
insertion and deletion of
various tariff subheadings
in tariff headings 87.03 and
87.04 to reduce the rate
of customs duty on diesel
goods vehicles not exceeding
1 100 kg; petrol and electric
passenger vehicles not
exceeding 800 kg; and electric
goods vehicles not exceeding
800 kg, from 25% ad valorem
to free of duty.
As a consequence, Part 2B
of Schedule No 1 to the Act
(“Ad Valorem Excise Duties
on locally manufactured
goods or on imported goods
of the same class or kind”)
and Part 2 of Schedule No
6 to the Act (“Refunds and
Rebates of Excise Duties, Fuel
Levy and Environmental
Levy: Rebates and Refunds of
Ad Valorem Excise Duties”)
are also amended.
The reasoning can be
found in the International
Trade Administration
Commission of South Africa
(Itac) Report 519.
Various Proposed
Amendments
On 25 August Sars
called for comment
on its proposed draft
amendments relating
to various technical
amendments in Part 1 of
Schedule No 1 to the Act
and Part 1 of Schedule No 4
of the Act “General Rebates
of Customs Duties, Fuel
Levy and Environmental
Levy: Specific Rebates of
Customs Duties”.
The draft amendments
relate to (i) the substitution
of general note G to insert
abbreviations and symbols
used in the Schedule to the
Act; (ii) Draft amendments
relating to various technical
amendments in Part 1 of
Schedule No 1 to Act; (iii)
substitution of note 2(a)(d)
in chapter 27; (iv) creation
of a separate 8-digit tariff
subheading for mango juice
classifiable in tariff heading
20.09 and deletion of tariff
subheading 2008.99.60 with
effect from 01 January 2017;
and (v) Draft amendment in
Part 1 of Schedule No 4 to
the Act, to substitute rebate
items 410.03/87.00/01.01, to
remove the reference to rebate
item 317.04 applicable to the
Motor Industry Development
Programme (MIDP), with
effect from 01 January 2017.
Comment is due by 08
September 2016.
Russian Federation
GSP
Sars on 23 August called for
comment on its proposed
amendment of rules under
section 46A3 to the Act
relating to the Generalised
System of Preferences (GSP)
for the Russian Federation,
which it administers. The
rules are being amended to
align it to the new enactments
of the Russian Federation
received from the South
African Embassy in Moscow.
According to Sars the
rule amendments entail
word changes but the
administration remains
unchanged. Some of the rule
amendments include the
addition of “least developed
countries”, change in
numbering to the rules of
determination of the origin
of goods, replacement of the
term “Russian Federation”
with “member state” and
“common customs territory”.
Comment is due by 06
September 2016.
APDP Rules
On 26 August Itac announced
the retrospective amendment,
to 01 January 2016 of the
Automotive Production and
Development Programme
(APDP) rules.