Customs

On 15 June 2015 the South African Revenue Service (Sars) published the proposed amendment of General Note B.4 (Duty Assessment) to Schedule No.1 to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 ‘Customs, Excise and Sales Duties and Surcharge’ (1964 Act) for which comment is due by 30 June 2015.

The proposed amendment is to provide for the calculation of the duty on goods with a statistical unit of "u" (number of units) to be based on full units only and not proportionately. The amended text is to read – [proposed insertion in brackets] – “A rate of duty applicable under any heading or tariff [item] to any unit of mass, measure, quantity or any other characteristic shall, unless otherwise provided in such heading or tariff item, apply proportionately to any part of such unit [except where the unit of mass in the statistical column in Part 1 of Schedule No. 1 is expressed as “u” (number of units)].”

The reason for the proposed amendment is not known.