Sars campaign nets tons of illegal clothing imports

The clothing and textile
campaign launched by South
African Revenue Service
(Sars) late last year in a bid
to clamp down on illegal
imports from Asia is making
an impact.
Sars spokesman Adrian
Lackay confirmed to FTW last
week that it had confiscated
more than 100 tons of
clothing imports since mid-
December. This, he said, was
in addition to the
60 tons of goods confiscated
in Sasolburg and the contents
of an entire warehouse in
Cape Town at the start of the
campaign.
While the campaign has
drawn significant industry
support – with undervaluations
regarded as one of
the biggest problems facing
local manufacturers – it has
also resulted in delays of up to
two weeks.
A forwarding industry
source who preferred not to be
named told FTW that Customs
policy had always been to stop
10% of shipments.
“But Customs is
understaffed. I worked in
Customs in the early 90s and
for the number of stops and
inspections, they don’t have
the manpower.”
In addition, he said the
textile tariff classification was
particularly complex.
The Sars clampdown
coincides with the termination
of the quota system on
Chinese imports introduced
last year to stem the flow of
cheap imports from China into
South Africa.
It was however branded a
failure with goods continuing
to enter the country from
several Eastern destinations
other than China.