Sars gives assurance that stamped document is no longer necessary

THERE HAS been considerable concern in the freight industry recently that too many licensing bureaux, municipalities and other authorities around the country are still “living in the old manual world” and insisting on getting a customs-stamped SAD 500 (single administrative document) as proof of cargo release. This, FTW was told, is a hangover from the previous system where a customsstamped combination of the DA 500 document and a CCA 1 form were required along with the bill of entry (BoE) for clearance purposes. But the DA range of documents and the CCA 1 were superseded on October 1, 2006 by the SAD forms. Also, as far back as 2002, when customs moved into electronic data interchange (EDI) for cargo clearances, a new clearance document came into being – doing away with the need for a stamped original of the DA 500 or its replacement, the SAD 500. Part of this trade facilitation enhancement meant that the declaration (SAD 500) would no longer be stamped by customs, said the SA Revenue Service (Sars), and its clients would receive an electronically-produced “release notification”. However, according to Beyers Theron, head of Sars’ customs operations unit, the authorities quickly reacted to the freight industry’s concerns. “At a meeting with industry representatives, he said, “this administration was informed that (certain authorities) were still insisting upon the SAD 500 being stamped by customs, and that the “release notification” – generated by the system and endorsed by the customs office – was not being recognised as the document on which the consignment had been released.” But, Theron informed FTW, the release notification conveyed both the release decision by customs, and also the final number and date allocated to a specific declaration. And this, he added, has been communicated to the offices of authorities (“our external stakeholders”) around the country. “They were informed that, upon production of an endorsed “release notification”, it is to be accepted as a customs-processed document which conveys the same intention as previously conveyed by way of this administration’s DA 500 or its replacement, the SAD 500.”