New airfreight RIB ruling levels the playing fields

A RECENT amendment to the SA Revenue Service’s concession for the removal of air cargo in bond by road from the point of arrival by aircraft to its intended destination is unlikely to have major practical ramifications according to several industry sources. The current concession was introduced in December 2007 but was only implemented on January 29 this year. According to Sars, no air cargo is permitted to be removed by road other than under Section 18(1)(b) of the Customs Act or under the Sars concession on the Removal of Air Cargo in Bond to the Place Manifested. In simple terms this means that all airlines, including the national carrier, are required to fill in a Removal in Bond (RIB) form for all cargo transhipped from the airport of arrival to final destination. In the past SAA was able to remove cargo in bond by air or road using a transfer manifest while all other airlines were required to fill in an RIB. It’s essentially a levelling of the playing fields for all airlines, says André Erasmus of Deloitte. “There have been various concessions in place and in 2003 Sars embarked on a rationalisation programme where all concessions had to be listed and tabled. “One of these involved goods landed at an airport for which they were not intended. These could be removed in bond to the final destination by other means and the physical holding and removal of these goods was the responsibility of the airline. “The current ruling makes this concession accessible to all role-players and prescribes a uniform working procedure,” he added. “In terms of the concession, if you have a consolidated cargo consignment made up of multiple items you are allowed a one-line clearance taking the value of the highest revenue-paying tariff and the total value of the consolidated consignment,” said Erasmus. An airfreight agent told FTW that it was business as usual for them. “We’ve always filled in an RIB and are continuing to do so.”