Make sure you’re HS-ready on January 1

January 1 will see the imposition
of new Customs codes in the
international harmonised system
(HS).
This international numeric filing
system – used by some 98% of
countries around the world – has
its product descriptions and codes
cleaned up every five years, with
out-of-date terms being discarded,
and the new being introduced. New
products – like i-pads and i-phones –
are always being introduced, and the
system has to be updated to include
the likes of these.
The last clean-up was in 2007,
and the next is due to be introduced
on January 1, 2012. The latest
amendments to the code were
published internationally by the
World Customs Organisation (WCO)
in 2009, and the SA Revenue Service
(Sars) customs published this
amended version locally – with a last
date for comments on November 7.
FTW was the first to bring this to
the industry’s attention, and ongoing
queries and updates have been
published regularly in Duty Calls and
Customs Buzz.
From January 1, if the HS code
has been changed, you need to use
it – or you won’t be able to clear your
consignments through customs.