Sars takes over issue of certificates of origin

SA REVENUE Service (Sars) has taken control of the issue of certificates of origin for duty-free entry of goods from SA into the other 13 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) – Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. No longer can an exporter amble along to the local chamber of commerce and industry and get his Form A certificate of origin stamped, signed and sealed. Now only an authorised SADC certificate of origin will comply with the community’s trade protocol, and gain duty-free access to the SADC free trade area (FTA). Sars has taken over what was a fairly loose verification of the certificate of origin in the chambers, according to Riaan de Lange of Tariff & Trade Intelligence. Application for the SADC certificate of origin can now only be done through Sars local offices or at border posts, he said. “An exporter will now have to negotiate with Sars for them to investigate and verify his application.” To accommodate the new system, De Lange added, Sars has changed the DA185 range of forms with certain new annexes. “Exporters will need to amend their status in terms of their customs code number by completing the new annexes to the DA185,” he told FTW. “The completed forms can be submitted in the usual way or presented to Sars at the border as an application for the new certificate of origin.”