On 11 May the South African Revenue service (Sars) published draft rules under section 38, Sacu Unique Consignment Reference (UCR), of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964, on which comment is due by 25 May.
The UCR is assigned to a consignment of goods for tracking purposes throughout the supply chain from origin to destination. The current UCR is being replaced with a Sacu UCR, which will initially create a platform for exchange of customs information between Sars Customs and the customs administration of Swaziland, followed later by the customs administrations of the other Sacu members. The purpose of the proposed Sacu UCR is to link export and import declarations using a common reference, enabling data exchange and facilitating trade within the Sacu region. The draft amendments provide for the generation, use and constitution of the UCR.