Ortia ‘stop’ ruling remains in place

DESPITE A contrary statement from the freight industry body, the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff), the SA Revenue Service (Sars) customs office at OR Tambo International Airport (Ortia) has not withdrawn its threat to tardy forwarders to put them on a stop list, according to Ortia customs official, Vincent Zikhali. This followed a memo sent to our electronic sister service, Customs Buzz, which quoted an announcement from Sars’ Ortia office, saying “All agents who have outstanding stops and who have not responded to Sars letters sent out last year will be placed on a stop list. “This effectively means that no releases will be issued to those affected until the stops have been finalised” – a statement which could effectively mean that a frequent offender could have his airfreight business brought to a stop. In an exclusive interview with FTW, Zikhali pointed out that customs was not aiming at the occasional offender. “If you have only one or two stops, we’ll ask you to finalise them,” he said. If you’re a persistent offender, Sars will come down on you like a ton of bricks. Said Zikhali: “If you’ve a number of stops, and you have been sent warning letters by Sars, and you’re not co-operating, we can put you on the stop list.”