This week’s special International Trade Administration Commission column focuses on import and export control. For more information, access the website at www.itac.org.za Import and export control measures are generally applied to enforce health, environmental, safety, and technical standards that arise from domestic laws and international agreements. The International Trade Administration Commission has established partnerships with several government departments to provide a stable legal foundation on which to operate. Import Control – New goods • Radioactive chemical elements: Control is exercised to assist the Department of Health, (radiation control) to control and monitor the importation of radioactive isotopes and chemical elements. • New pneumatic tyres: To assist the National Regulator for Compulsory Specification to ensure that all new pneumatic tyres imported comply with the safety/quality specification and have been subjected to a process of homologation. • Chemicals listed in the 1988 Convention: Control is exercised to assist the SAPS in ensuring that importers/exporters of listed chemicals are recorded and the movements of these chemicals are adequately monitored as required by the Convention. • Fossil fuels: To assist the Department of Mineral Resources in regulating the industry for the purpose of promoting efficient manufacturing, wholesaling and retailing of petroleum products, to create an environment for investment and to create small business and employment opportunities in the industry. • Arms and ammunition: To assist the SAPS in maintaining safety and security. • Gambling devices: For social reasons and quality. Used goods • Used electronic equipment: To assist the Department of Environment Affairs to address the problem of dumping of electronic waste. • Used medical equipment: To assist the Department of Health to address the problem of inferior quality used medical equipment being imported such as used X-ray machines. • Used aircraft To assist the Civil Aviation Authority in recording used aircraft being imported and ensuring that the requirements of airworthiness have been complied with. • Waste and scrap The generation of waste and scrap far exceeds recycling programmes resulting in many developed countries being prepared to pay developing countries for receiving waste and scrap for purpose of landfill. In many instances however the importation of waste and scrap is allowed as it serves as a raw material for manufacturing purposes such as waste paper, glass, rubber or lead. In all these instances, however, there must be compliance with the provisions of the Basel Convention. Export Control • Tiger’s eye and sugulite: To assist the Department of Mineral Resources with strategies of beneficiation, being the successive process of adding value to raw materials from extraction to selling the finished products to consumers. • Raw materials for manufacturing: The exportation of ferrous and non-ferrous waste and scrap, for example, is controlled to assist the local foundries in acquiring ferrous and nonferrous waste and scrap prior to exportation. • Assist strategies of crime prevention: The exportation of used motor vehicles is controlled to assist law enforcement agencies in curtailing the exportation of used stolen motor vehicles. • Control in terms of international agreements: Export control measures are also exercised to comply with the provisions of international agreements such as the Montreal Protocol, Basel Convention and the 1988 United Nations Convention.
