The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has postponed the roll-out of the Registration, Licensing and Accreditation (RLA) programme scheduled for this year. According to a Sars spokesman, a decision was taken to postpone the first release of the new system, which included introducing eFiling as a registration channel for certain client types, to early 2020. In a communique to industry the revenue service said this decision had been taken to allow for the fine-tuning of various technical issues that would allow for smooth implementation. The pilot with selected traders is however still expected to go ahead this year.Several customs agents voiced concern over the delay to FTW. One agent, who preferred to remain anonymous, said Sars had only implemented the reporting of conveyances and goods (RCG) this year as part of its New Customs Acts Programme (NCAP). “Everything else that was supposed to be rolled out or launched has been postponed and this is a very concerning tendency,” he said. “It has implications not only on the immediate operating environment of trade, but also the bigger picture. If one considers that the new customs acts were written in 2014 and full implementation is only expected in 2025, these ongoing delays will start to impact on that 2025 date. By the time these new acts come into effect, they are going to be dated and old and no longer applicable because it has taken such an extraordinarily long time to be implemented.” However, Sars explained that the slight delay of RLA had no impact on the full implementation of NCAP. This is because current legislation was adapted to enable aspects of RLA to be introduced before NCAP goes live so that trade can start enjoying all the benefits of RLA as soon as possible. Trade and industry have been waiting with bated breath for RLA as it significantly simplifies the process of licensing and registering with Sars – a process that will now remain manual until next year. Instead of the timeconsuming process where agents and traders have to register in person with a pack of paper documents at a customs office, they will now be able to use eFiling as a registration channel, allowing for a faster and far more efficient process overall.