Importers remain concerned that South Africa’s planned pre-export verification rules for selected Chinese imports could trigger unnecessary cargo detentions, particularly following the South African Bureau of Standards’ (SABS) publication of an HS code list that industry says is still not product-specific.
“There are ongoing concerns over the list, which is still not product-specific, despite a few of the published products having specific tariff headings,” said customs expert Clifford Evans.
Freight News previously reported that importers had warned of possible cargo delays if broad HS codes were used to enforce the new conformity rules. The publication of the SABS code list had not resolved this concern, Evans said.
Speaking at the Cape Port Liaison Forum (PLF) last week, an initiative of the Cape Chamber of Commerce, Evans used the example of toys imported from China under HS code 950300, which covers all toys.
“In their list, they refer to products by name, such as plush toys or soft toys, but that is not the description in the tariff book,” he said. “The tariff book will simply state ‘other toys’. So that issue remains.”
Under the new Pre-Export Verification of Conformity (PVoC) programme, which becomes mandatory in September following a six-month transition period, importers will be required to obtain a Certificate of Conformity (CoC) before shipment to South Africa, confirming that goods meet local safety and quality standards before they leave the country of origin.
“My bigger concern is that the prohibited and restricted list does not make provision for countries of origin. If customs detains toys under HS code 950300, there is nowhere in either the customs tariff book or the prohibited and restricted list that differentiates between toys from China and toys from any other country,” Evans said.
He warned that unless the issue was resolved before implementation, all products under the affected HS codes, regardless of origin, could potentially be detained pending CoCs.
“If customs detains goods under 950300, as an example, it could mean every toy from every country around the world is detained for a CoC, and then somebody has to manually release those goods once they establish they are not from China,” he said.
Evans also raised concerns around implementation timelines and readiness in China. According to him, China Certification and Inspection Group (CCIC), the third-party company expected to conduct inspections and issue the certificates, was still awaiting approval from Chinese authorities to proceed.
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