Threaded fasteners safeguard
On 04 March the World Trade Organisation (WTO) advised that South Africa had notified its Committee on Safeguards that the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) had initiated a safeguard investigation on threaded fasteners of iron or steel: bolt ends and screw studs, screw studding, and other hexagon nuts ( excluding those of stainless steel and those identifiable for aircraft ), classifiable in tariff subheadings 7318.15.41, 7318.15.42 and 7318.16.30, on which comment is due by 30 April. The application was lodged by the South African Iron and Steel Institute (Saisi) on behalf of the South African Fasteners Manufacturers' Association (Safma).
Electrolytic manganese dioxides dumping
The European Commission (EC) has announced that on 02 March the anti-dumping duty on imports of certain electrolytic manganese
dioxides, classifiable in tariff subheading 2820.10.00, originating in South Africa, will expire.
Frozen chicken import permits
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (Daff) has called for applications for quota import permits for rebate ( rebate item 460.03/0207.14.9 /01.07 ) of the full anti-dumping duty on frozen bone-incuts of the species Gallus Domesticus , classifiable in tariff subheading 0207.14.9, imported from or originating in the United States of America (USA). Applications for permits are now being invited for the period 01 April 2019 to 31 March 2020. They must be submitted in the format as set out in the application forms and its guidelines. In addition, a valid South African Revenue Service (Sars) tax clearance certificate is compulsory to all applicants. Failure to submit in accordance with the criteria will lead to disqualification. Please also note that a
fee of R1 095 per permit is payable for permits and replacement permits issued from the 01 April.
Supporting the poultry industry
On 06 March the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) issued a release announcing that the government was continuing to deploy a number of interventions to support the poultry industry. These include measures to boost competitiveness, valueaddition and technology upgrading; trade measures; export support to assist the domestic industry to access foreign markets; industrial finance and incentives with conditions for improving competitiveness; and measures to promote growth and transformation of the poultry industry among others.
Excise Duty Discussion Document
Sars has released its 52-page “ Discussion Document on the Rewrite of the Excise Legislation ”, dated 01 March, on which comment is due by 31 May.
Customs Acts Programme Update
Sars on 01 March issued a letter to external stakeholders providing an update of its stated intention to first pilot the new functionalities developed under the Declaration Processing System (DPS) before operationalising it at a later stage. In this instance, certain amendments to the Rules to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 were being considered in order to better support the pilot. However, this process could “ unfortunately ” not be concluded within the original timeframe envisaged by Sars and as a result it has been decided to “ temporarily ” delay the implementation of the pilot.
Duty Calls Watchlist
Comment on proposed Excise Duty Act has been extended to 29 March.
