Customs clients who have a large number of supporting documents to submit can now do so at a special facility set up for them at the Alberton Processing Centres. Over the next two weeks similar facilities will be established in Durban (201 West Street), Pretoria (Doringkloof) and Cape Town (P166).
Following the implementation of Customs Modernisation Release 2 at four Customs offices – Johannesburg (Alberton), Ortia, Durban (Albany House) and Cape Town (P166) – on June 10, Sars introduced a new risk-based business process in which the system calls for supporting documents when required. These can be submitted to the four Customs offices either:
• Electronically through trader-specific applications by means of the e@syPackager application OR
• As physical documents by means of scanning at the Customs office
“Due to the large volumes and the size of the supporting documents, Sars decided to offer an additional method of submitting supporting documents by opening up its four processing centres to Customs clients – starting with Alberton,” a spokesman explained.
These facilities have high-speed bulk scanners which are able to efficiently and quickly deal with the larger volumes of documentation that some Customs clients may be requested to submit as part of the risk-based approach.
The Alberton facility went live on Monday June 27, while Cape Town and Durban are expected to go live the week of July 25, with Doringkloof on August 5.
Sars has requested clients to submit their documents in packs of no more than 20 pages and ensure that pages are A4 in size, that print is clear and legible for scanning and that they remove all staples and paper clips.
They are also advised not to submit supporting documents for the four offices mentioned unless requested by a system-generated notification. “If they do receive a notification to submit supporting documents, they should make sure they have the case number handy when arriving at the Customs office or processing centre,” the spokesman said.
The exact dates for implementation of Release 2 at the remaining Customs offices, including introduction of a new inspection regime and the facility to submit electronic supporting documents, will be released shortly.
