SADC EPA Customs
Rules
On 12 October the
South African Revenue
Service (Sars) announced
the publication of its
rule amendment to the
Customs and Excise
Act, 1964 substituting
the Trade, Development
and Co-operation
Agreement (TDCA)
between the European
Community (EC) and
South Africa with the
Economic Partnership
Agreement (EPA) between
the Southern African
Development Community
(SADC) EPA states and the
European Union (EU) and
its member states. This is
in addition to the rules, the
amendment of forms DA
185; DA 185 4A2; and DA
185 4A7 to the Act, 1964.
The implementation
date is retrospective to 10
October 2016, following
the publication of the draft
rules on 26 September, on
which comment was due
on 03 October.
Regional Security
Workshop
Sars hosted an East and
Southern Africa Region
workshop, under a World
Customs Organisation (WCO)
Security Programme, from
12 to 14 October, which was
attended by 24 participants
from 18 countries in the
region.
This workshop follows the
WCO’s security programme
strategic seminar, held at
the WCO’s headquarters
during June 2016, and
provided an update on the
programme’s activities whilst
encouraging open dialogue
and consultations on securityrelated
training and capacity
building needs.
Proposed Customs
Control Act, 2014 -
Amendments
Even though the Customs
Control Act, 2014 was
published 812 days ago and
it has still not entered into
force, it remains subject to
amendment, or proposed
amendment.
On 07 October 2016, Sars
announced the “Publication
of Explanatory Summary
of the Tax Administration
Laws Amendment Bill,
2016”. The finance minister
intends to introduce the
Tax Administration Laws
Amendment Bill, 2016, in the
National Assembly shortly.
The following relates to
customs duty and excise duty
amendments.
The first amendment
relates to – “delete certain
unnecessary provisions and
combine certain provisions
for purposes of clarity”, which
begs the question, why are
refinements to the Act still
continuing? The refinement to
an Act which, in all likelihood,
will not be enacted in its
entirety, in 2016, possibly not
even in 2017. The Customs
Duty Act, 2014 amendments
involve the deletion of certain
unnecessary provisions
and combintaion of certain
provisions for purposes of
clarity; amendments to the
Customs Control Act, 2014,
make certain technical
corrections; delete certain
unnecessary provisions;
make changes to provisions
relating to the submission of
cross-border train departure
reports; provide for the
transmission of electricity
under the international
transit procedure; broaden
a rule enabling provision
to include rules relating to
the treatment of detained
counterfeit goods in state
warehouses; and generally
make adjustments for the
smoother implementation
of that Act and for matters
connected therewith.
Duty Calls’ Watch List
Comment is due on Sars’
second draft of the rules to the
Customs Duty Act, 2014 by
30 November.
DUTY CALLS
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