Sars addresses BMA concerns

The South African Revenue
Service (Sars) is looking
into launching a pilot
study – involving volunteer
companies from the
freight industry – for the
transitional phase of the
roll-out of the new Border
Management Agency
(BMA) Bill.
This was announced by
Kosie Louw, chief officer:
legal and policy division
of Sars, during a panel
discussion at the recent
South African Association
of Freight Forwarders
(Saaff) congress in
Durban.
He was addressing
concerns raised by
delegates around the
implementation of the Bill
and the agency that would
ultimately be responsible
for running the new BMA
– which is set to replace
the current Border Control
Operational Coordinating
Committee (BCOCC) in
2017.
Juanita Maree, financial
director at Savino Del Bene,
commented that many
of the freight forwarding
agents were concerned
that the daily operations of
the agency – which would
oversee all border-related
issues from customs and
excise to immigration,
veterinary inspection and
safety and security – would
move over to Home Affairs.
“This raises questions
around how we will
communicate with them
and how to ensure they
do the same level of risk
assessments on cargo
movements across borders,”
she said.
According to Louw, while
the BMA is a government
initiative, Sars supports the
move as a way in which to
improve communication
across all the current
agencies that regulate
certain aspects of border
movements and control,
including the military and
police.
“We believe it would, for
example, eliminate the need
for several stops as only one
agency would regulate all
border-related issues,” he
said.
Louw pointed out that
the creation of a BMA was
still in its earliest stages,
commenting that a lot of
work still needed to be
done. “However, in the
interim phase there will
be no changes regarding
Sars’ mandate and we don’t
foresee any issues arising
during this phase,” he said.
He told FTW on the
side lines of the congress
that Sars was still debating
internally how to approach
the pilot study and how to
involve industry.
Sars commissioner
Tom Moyane added: “The
establishment of the BMA is
a process and not an event.
It is therefore anticipated
that Saaff will serve its
membership’s interests and
constructively engage with
the BMA in order to put
across industry concerns
as well as proposals to help
inform this process."
INSERT & CAPTION
We believe it would
eliminate the need
for several stops.
– Kosie Louw
CAPTION 
The new Border Management Agency is expected to be active
by 2017.