Sars to address perishable shippers' concerns

The proverbial penny seems to have dropped regarding export time frames in the new Customs Control Act. Customs officials have agreed to meet with the perishable industry about the proposed time frames and submission of bills of lading in the Act which, if implemented in its current form, would have catastrophic consequences for fruit exporters in particular. An agreement was reached when South African Revenue Service (Sars) officials met with industry recently in Pretoria to discuss the comments made on the second batch of rules guiding the new Act. According to an industry representative who attended the feedback session, officials were not aware of the impact the new Act would have on fruit exports. “It stipulates that goods be packed into a container that has to be sealed and the bill of entry for that particular container passed with customs at least two hours before it reaches the stack. This is physically not possible and if this particular aspect of the Act is not addressed we will see fruit exports come to a halt,” said the source. The fruit industry packs fruit in the dead of night and often up to 60 containers are sent piecemeal over the course of a week to the export stack before the bill of lading covering all the cargo is issued, together with a single export customs declaration. In terms of the new law, it will be a requirement to issue a separate bill of lading for each container, and a separate export declaration as well, raising the cost of the export significantly and making South Africa much less competitive internationally. The reason is that in terms of the new law an export customs declaration must be passed before the goods are exported, which means “before they are delivered to the export stack”. The current law contains a provision that permits an export declaration to be passed after the fruit has been exported, which is a very practical and costeffective arrangement. Industry, which is currently in the process of commenting on the rules and regulations, highlighted this issue in the second batch of comments. Sars is now set to meet with the industry in the last week of January. “I think the perishables industry across the board has finally woken up and now realises the importance of meeting with Sars,” said another source FTW spoke to. “There are many commodities that would not be affected by the new time frames but fruit exports would be severely hampered.” According to Clifford Evans of Ceva Logistics, one of the commentators on the new rules, customs has been exceptionally forthcoming in meeting with industry and has accepted many of the changes that have been made. INSERT 2hrs The advance requirement for a bill of lading to be passed before the container reaches the stack.