Industry and Sars must talk through the changes

As experts continue to comment on the rules and regulations guiding the country’s new customs legislation it is becoming increasingly clear that industry and the South African Revenue Service (Sars) must work more closely together on the documentation. This is according to several parties involved in the process that is being guided by the South African Association of Freight Forwarders. With commentary completed on the third set of published rules and regulations the general feeling is that the process has become too complex. “The first sets of rules published were fairly easy to go through and comment on. In fact a workshop was held with Sars subsequent to that in which they accepted most of industry’s comments,” said one source. “The second set, however, was not so simple and the comments and changes we were starting to ask for increased dramatically. With the third set that we have just completed reviewing it is apparent that we are going to have to sit down with Sars and talk through the changes required. “ This is some admission taking into account that the country’s top customs experts are on the panel reviewing the legislation. “We have requested a special meeting with Sars to work with them on the rules. In fact in some cases there is consensus that the rules have to be rewritten completely to allow for practical implementation in the field,” said the source. According to industry stalwart Mike Walwyn, there are more and more examples in the rules and regulations where no cognisance has been taken of operations - be it warehousing procedures or reporting mechanisms. At the same time the significant impact the new requirements will have on industry has also not been considered. “We have been encouraged by Sars’ willingness to sit down with us and hear our concerns after the first ten chapters were published. At least 90% if not more of our recommendations have been accepted by Sars. As more rules are published however the changes are significantly increasing but the legislation is also becoming exceptionally complex. Unless industry and Sars work together we are going to have some very real ramifications on operations when this legislation is implemented,” said another source. With the process now reaching the halfway mark stakeholders are convinced now is the time to sit down and iron out issues. INSERT & CAPTION There are more and more examples in the rules and regulations where no cognisance has been taken of operations. – Mike Walwyn