New customs laws keep training sector on its toes

SIGNIFICANT CHANGES in SA Revenue Service (Sars) customs legislation are testing the clearing and forwarding industry training sector – with the latest being the imminent implementation of the single administrative document (SAD 500) on October 1 this year, according to Henri Fisher, MD of Skills Development Specialists (SDS). “We have had to do some fancy, just-in-time footwork in order to align our training with the implementation of this document - as the SAD 500 replaces all traditional bills of entry.” Fisher also noted that the implementation of the SAD 500 would have a significant impact on the wording of the existing customs’ unit standards. “Most noticeable,” she said, “is that the unit standards currently refer to the soon-to-be redundant DA 500/600 bills of entry – and the appropriate changes will have to be made before that October deadline.” From the company’s nine-year history of training in the clearing and forwarding sector, a distinct need has been found for multi-skills training. “We have experienced an overriding demand for skills programme training where the learners are equipped with a range of skills as opposed to short courses - where they are taught only one skill at a time. “The benefit of this concept is that a learner who has successfully completed skills programme training is a versatile unit.”