Baby and adult diaper rebate On 9 February the South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced the substitution of rebate items 320.12 in Part 1 of Schedule No 3 to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 to provide for the importation of raw materials for the manufacture of baby diapers as well as adult diapers. The rebate items are 320.12/3919.10/01.06, 320.12/3920.20/01.06, 320.12/5404.11/01.06, 320.12/5603.1/01.05, 320.12/5603.9/01.05, and 320.12/5903.90/01.06. A second substitution was announced by Sars for rebate item 412.13/00.00/01.00 in Part 1 of Schedule No 4 to the Act, 1964 to exclude adult diapers from the rebate item. The reasoning for the tariff amendments is contained in the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) report no 569. Physically Disabled Persons’ vehicles Sars on 9 February announced the substitution of rebate items 460.17/87.00/04.02 and 460.17/87.00/02.04 in Part 2 of Schedule No 4 to the Act, 1964 and rebate items 630.20 and 630.22, in Part 2 of Schedule No 6 to the Act, 1964 in order to reduce the period of disposal of motor vehicles designed for the transport of physically disabled persons from five years to three. The reasoning for the tariff amendment is contained in Itac Minute M13/2017. Rules to the Act updated On 8 February Sars announced that they had updated the section on their website of the Rules to the Act, 1964, to now include rules up to and including 22 December 2017. Incomplete and provisional entries Sars on 6 February published for comment draft rules under Sections 31B and 40 to the Act, 1964 relating to incomplete and provisional entries, on which comment is due by 21 February. According to the covering note of the release, in terms of subsection (2) of Section 34 of the Revenue Laws Second Amendment Act, 2008, subsection (1) (a) of that section which inserted Section 39B into the Act, 1964, will come into operation on a date fixed by the president by proclamation in the Government Gazette. It is Sars’ intention to shortly request the president to fix a date by proclamation on which Section 34(1)(a) of the Act, 2008 will come into effect. 1st Global CrossBorder E-Commerce Conference On 9 February the first global Cross-Border E-Commerce Conference, jointly organised by the World Customs Organidation (WCO) and General Administration of Customs People’s Republic of China, was launched in Beijing, The People’s Republic of China, with the message of strengthening cooperation towards an innovative, inclusive, strategic and collaborative approach to sustainable cross-border e-commerce. The conference brought together over 2 000 highlevel policy and decision makers, as well as operational experts from Customs administrations, other government agencies, e-commerce operators, international organisations, regional economic communities, academia and other stakeholders in the cross-border e-commerce supply chain. Through a range of plenary and breakout sessions, the two-day conference focused on embracing, seizing and leveraging opportunities presented by cross-border e-commerce, while exploring collaborative and innovative solutions.
