Fruit industry awaits outcome of Sars deliverations

Western Cape fruit exporters
remain in limbo as South African
Revenue Service (Sars) officials
consider the implications of new
customs legislation that will
impact significantly on their
operations.
According to a spokesman for
the Cape Port Liaison Forum
(PLF), meetings between the fruit
industry and Sars have taken place
and the matter is being deliberated
at top level.
“We are hoping to find a
solution to the problem. Currently
packhouses pack containers over
a period of time, send them off to
the stack over several days, and
then pass one bill of entry covering
all of this. The new legislation
will require a bill of entry for each
container before it reaches the
export stack and so if you have 60
containers that will mean 60 bills
of entry,” said the spokesman. “At
the same time the entries have to
be declared before the container
reaches the stack – and taking into
account that fruit is often packed
in the middle of the night, some of
the requirements in the legislation
are just not possible.”
He said Sars officials were very
understanding about the situation
and all efforts were being made
to see how the new customs acts
could address this.
No definite solutions have yet
been found although it is believed
officials from Pretoria have been to
the Western Cape in an effort to get a
clearer understanding of the process.