The fact that fines
had been slapped
on errors in DA550s was an unfortunate
misunderstanding within the customs network
Alan Peat
THE SARS customs is fully alert to the freight industry discontent at the new DA550 export bill of entry, according to project co-ordinator Itchy Shaik.
They have taken note of FTW's August 10 story: "Industry challenges customs over impossible DA550" - and have no argument to make with the factual content, he told FTW.
Shaik supports the industry's call for an indaba. "There's definitely a need for everybody to get together about the matter," he said. And he and his team are already involved in various meetings, he added.
"We are looking for alternative solutions," Shaik said.
In the heated debate about the demands of the various "fields" in the new DA550 document everybody seemed to have overlooked something, he told FTW.
"We announced that we'd allowed a three-month moratorium," said Shaik, "but everybody seemed to presume that this meant, come October, the various fields become mandatory.
"But that's not right. By October 1 we expect to have the computer system up and running, and it's only on January 1 next year that the fields become mandatory."
And in the meantime, Shaik added, they are open for discussion.
The fact that fines had been slapped on errors in DA550s - and caused "huge unhappiness" in the freight forwarding industry - was an unfortunate misunderstanding within the customs network.
An original communication had been sent out to customs offices, Shaik told FTW, detailing the "proposed" penalty structure attached to the DA550. But it was of a "for your information only" nature - not an instruction to implement.
But it got misread in a couple of cases, Shaik added.
"Some isolated offices were presuming that the fields were mandatory from the beginning (July 16) - and were fining for this."
But Shaik's office has sent out another communication - which he hopes has now sorted out the matter.
