On 10 October 2014 Sars announced an increase in the "General" rate of customs duty, through the insertion of tariff subheadings, on certain paper products of paperboard coated, impregnated or covered with plastic or metal foil, classifiable under tariff 4811.59.05 and 4811.90.05 from 0% ad valorem (free) to 5% ad valorem and of the substitution of tariff subheadings 4811.59.10 and 4811.90.10. The reasoning for the tariff amendment is contained in Itac Report No.484.
Tariff subheading 4811.59.05 - - - Combined with plastic film with a film thickness not exceeding 50 microns, printed.
Tariff subheading 4811.90.05 - - Combined with metal foil with a foil thickness not exceeding 15 microns, printed.
Tariff subheading 4811.59.10 - - - Other, in strips or rolls of a width not exceeding 150 mm; in rectangular (including square) sheets with one side not exceeding 360 mm and the other side not exceeding 150 mm in the unfolded state (excluding floor coverings on a base of paper or of paperboard, whether or not cut to size).
Tariff subheading 4811.90.10 - - Other, in strips or rolls of a width not exceeding 150 mm; in rectangular (including square) sheets with one side not exceeding 360 mm and the other side not exceeding 150 mm in the unfolded state.
The application was lodged by Nampak Flexible Ltd on 23 May 2014 and took 140 days to complete. As one of the reasons for the application, the applicant stated that the application was made to bring duty protection for a group of printed laminates between paper, foil and polymers in line with other flexible laminates and close the current loophole whereby these products carry no duty due to the paper components being the thickest components of the construction and all paper products currently carry no duty.
The application was for paper and paperboard coated, impregnated or covered with plastic classifiable under tariff subheading 4811.59.90; and other paper, paperboard, cellulose fibres classifiable under tariff subheading 4811.90.90 from free of duty to 5% ad valorem by creation of additional 8-digit tariff subheadings, as follows: 4811.59.xx --- Paper and paperboard fibres combined with plastic film, printed and the thickness of the plastic film may not exceed fifty microns. 4811.90.xx --- Paper and paperboard, cellulose and wadding and webs of cellulose fibres, combined with metal foil, printed and the thickness of the metal foil may not exceed fifteen micron.
