CERTAIN IMPORT duty tariffs are being considered for reduction, as the SA technical committee negotiating the SA-European Union (EU) free trade agreement looks for a bargaining point in its talks with the Brussels-based authorities.
According to the latest Cape Chamber of Business bulletin, the committee is now considering two areas of duty reductions over an up to 10-year period. Industrial products which currently carry a duty of less than 5% (with a few exceptions) and certain goods with a duty of less than 15%, are the possible areas of adjustment.
These potential (if agreed) offers to the EU are balanced against the Union's proposed tariff reductions for SA-sourced goods. All industrial products to drop to zero duty in three years, and some 60% of SA agricultural exports to Europe also to drop to zero over time, is the latest deal offered by the EU.
But the 40% of SA's agricultural exports (the largest money-earner in Europe) that is missing from EU thinking has met with strong opposition from the SA export business community. This especially as the Union's bargaining chip is that ALL SA-destined goods from Europe should be free of duty in a ten-year period.
A postscript to this bargaining point is vocal support for the SA case from the UK's leader of the Labour Party, Tony Blair. On his recent visit to SA, Blair was quoted as saying that - if his party is elected at the next general election in the UK - he will put his party's muscle behind SA in its tough negotiations with the EU.
A number of UK expats suggest that this might be a case of wait and see rather than expect. It could be described as a good vote-catcher for Labour for those UK citizens who still have postal voting rights in their home country, said one.
