Sars to engage with industry on latest ‘rules’ developments

The South African Revenue
Service (Sars) is set to
engage with trade shortly
on the third draft of the
Customs Control rules.
According to a Sars
spokesman,
this is the final draft
and industry will not
be entitled to make any
further commentary.
A workshop will also
be held within the next
few months on the second
draft of the Customs
Duty rules for
which the
comment period ended
in November last year.
Following the workshop
officials will set to work
on the third draft of these
rules which will again be
made public but not for
commentary.
While Sars has not been
able to give definitive
dates for these processes, a
spokesman told FTW that
all attempts were being
made to complete this as
quickly as possible.
Commenting on whether
the rules process had to
be completed before the
new customs acts could be
implemented, a customs
expert told FTW that
this was not necessarily
the case – with the first
phase of implementation
expected in April.
“The rules have been
read by industry for the
most part and have been
made public even though
not necessarily in their
final form. For all intents
and purposes the rules are
available – meaning there
is clarity around how the
legislation will be guided.”
Sars earlier told FTW
that implementation of the
new legislation would be a
phased approach starting
with registration, licensing
and accreditation by no
later than the middle of
2017.
“Global best practice
in the implementation
of large-scale legal, IT
or operational process
changes confirms that
phased implementations
have a better chance of
success when compared
with “big-bang”
implementations,” a Sars
spokesman said at the
time.
It’s a move that has been
welcomed by industry
says Mike Walwyn of the
Cape Town Port Liaison
Forum. “This is a major
undertaking and the
phased approach will
allow everyone to adapt
to the new legislation and
undoubtedly avert a largescale
catastrophe.”