As it embarks on a
nationwide series of
roadshows to outline
latest developments in the
implementation of the New
Customs Act Programme
(NCAP), the SA Revenue
Service (Sars) has committed
to ongoing stakeholder
engagement every step along
the journey.
Sars announced last
week that, after extensive
high-level discussions on
how best to implement
the new Customs Acts
gazetted in July 2014, it
had reconsidered its initial
approach of introducing
Registration, Licensing and
Accreditation (RLA) as a
first step and would instead
be focusing on Reporting of
Conveyancing and Goods
(RCG). This builds on the
platform created by the new
Manifest Processing System
(MPR) which was introduced
in June last year.
The operational impact of
the legislation is huge. For
the Acts to be implemented
the Rules to the Acts need to
be in place. The commentary,
engagement and drafting
process for the Customs
Control Act Rules concluded
in March this year – and
while development has
progressed, the finalised
Rules now enable Sars to
complete its technical and
process designs and engage
with trade in that regard.
“Delivering the legislation
to the operating environment
without total disruption
and with full understanding
of the trade impact is
critical,” Beyers Theron,
Executive – Customs &
Excise Centre of Excellence,
told FTW. “Those are the
practicalities that need to be
ironed out in consultation
with stakeholders before
implementation – and that’s
part of the reason for the
current roadshows.
“We want to stop the
mixed messages within the
trade environment. Although
we have progressed well
with the development of
core components required
for NCAP, the 2016 version
rules considered a significant
amount of trade inputs
and comments resulting in
changes to the anticipated
business processes and
systems functionality – so
there’s a lot of adjustment
that has to take place.
“The implementation of
the new Acts is an enormous
undertaking – and we
won’t do anything without
appropriate consultation
with trade. Every design we
have we will sit down and
engage with our stakeholders.
The current roadshows are
the introductory phase – and
implementation will come
at a pace that is absorbable
by trade and by us and we
are committed to holding
their hands throughout the
process.”
Designed to provide
an overview of what is to
come – the roadshows will
run to the end of August,
with additional trade
sessions possible in Gauteng
where the events have been
oversubscribed.
“When NCAP as a project
started, in hindsight it may
have been premature to
consider definitive timelines,”
said Theron. “If you engage
trade in a consultative
process in something as
important as legislation,
and in particular the Rules
to the Acts, you must expect
things are not going to
happen quickly – especially
if you look at the extent of
the changes emanating from
these consultations.
“Engagement on the rules
process only concluded
last year – and after the
engagements there is a period
of time during which the
drafters need to
adjust the rules.
All of which is a
lengthy process.”
What’s equally
important is that
legislation can’t
be implemented
piecemeal.
“With the new
legislation, there’s
a closure of the
1964 Act and a new
beginning – and for
us that’s a challenge
because of the size
and enormity of
what we are talking
about.”
And it’s the reason that
Sars has been looking at
ways of bringing some of
the functionality forward.
“We’ve been examining
how we can limit what
happens on the date that
the new legislation goes live,
how we can do the change
management internally and
externally and get trade used
to a new process prior to
implementation. And that’s
part of what we are sharing
on these roadshows.”
The objective is to bring
on RCG functionality
under the 1964 Act so that
stakeholders gradually align
with the new way of working.
“By bringing in elements
under the 1964 Act we can
prepare the ground for the
2014 Act,” said Theron.
“MPR was prioritised for
implementation last year
because it prepares all the
different stakeholders who
are obliged under the new
act to license and to start
getting their reports into our
system. RCG takes control
over the supply chain a step
further - and eventually,
when RLA is ready, we’ll
bring in the licensing
requirements for RCG
clients.”
RCG will be the first
work package to be
released – and while
Theron was reluctant to
give a time line, it is likely
to be next year.
He stressed however
that it was one thing for
Sars to be ready – but it
was equally important for
industry to be ready.
“If you look at the
electronic reporting
compliance to MPR
today – for seafreight it’s
just over 50% and for
air 15%. For this Act to
go live, if I can’t push up
that figure to 90-95% we
have a dilemma. With
that level of compliance
OR Tambo International
could come to a standstill
if the Sars systems are
unable to match clearances
to their respective cargo
declarations in order
to make holistic risk
assessments. It’s therefore
important that we use
MPR to raise the data
quality in the industry and
to raise the compliance.”
When MPR was
implemented, Sars gave
industry an undertaking that
if they became compliant
at an acceptable level and
maintained that for three
months they would be
permitted to go 100%
paperless in the cargo
reporting space.
According to
Theron, this was
achieved by the first
compliant cargo
reporter last month.
Once RCG
is bedded down, Sars will
move onto RLA and DPS
(Declaration Processing
System), the three streams
at the centre of the new Act.
“When it comes to DPS a
lot of development will have
to happen on the industry
side – and at some point
we will start engaging
the industry IT service
providers about the impact
of the change of declaration
processing and what they
would have to build.”
The idea is to get the
industry ready for the new
legislation. “What we are
doing is prioritising so that
the impact when we switch
on that legislation will be
minimal. For example, in
the case of RLA we will
start bringing clients on
board long before we go
live with the Act – we’ll
work with them to register,
clean their data and be
‘implementation ready’ for
the new Act whilst we in
parallel continue current
processes until switch
over.”
DPS is the final major
component to be delivered
– when DPS is ready, then
the new Act will be ready to
go live as well.
INSERT
We won’t do anything
without appropriate
consultation with
trade. Every design
we have we will
sit down and
engage with our
stakeholders.
– Beyers Theron
