Importers face growing compliance burden

As the devaluation of the rand pushes up import costs in a highly competitive market, compliance issues are doing little to ease the growing burden. According to industry sources, the three controls that need to be cleared before cargo is good to go are resulting in significant unnecessary delays. “First the goods need to be cleared by SA Revenue Service. But once Sars has released the container it can still be stopped by the border police for random inspection. And once it’s cleared those hurdles, there’s the National Regulator of Compulsory Specifications (NCRS),” an industry source told FTW. An offshoot of the SA Bureau of Standards, its role is to ascertain whether products comply with compulsory specifications on behalf of the minister of trade and industry. And while no-one disputes the prudence of maintaining standards and compliance, the reality is that it’s adding to the cost of doing business. In July last year a container of canned tuna was at the centre of a row between the NRCS and an importer’s insurance underwriters. The container was stopped by the NRCS after a spot inspection which revealed that a few cans were slightly damaged – and they refused to release it. The claim was settled last year, but according to a source in the insurance sector, the NRCS kept moving the goal posts in terms of acceptable standards. The initial specification was that dented cans were not acceptable. The insurance company sorted the cans and felt that they had met the criteria of the claim. “But then,” according to our source, “they moved the goal posts and said that even slightly dented cans were unacceptable, so we had to sort again.” Not only did the importer have to deal with the significant delay to the shipment, but considerable additional costs were added to the mix.