Following last Thursday’s announcement by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, of the easing of restrictions on the movement of non-essential cargo, SA Revenue Service (Sars) has made it clear that it will continue to prioritise essential cargo to facilitate the supply of critical goods.
“Extensive use will be made of documentary inspections and, where possible, non-intrusive examination methods will be used in an effort to limit physical inspections to numbers that match our operational capacity at this time,” according to an information guide released at the weekend.
As a result of the incremental easing of restrictions on the movement of cargo, Sars will also incrementally increase its capacity at ports of entry with social distancing protocols, high levels of hygiene in the work area, as well as other safety measures in place.
It has however warned that these measures could result in longer processing periods than in the past.
In terms of customs escalations, Sars has requested that all queries be directed initially to the relevant customs branch office so that they can be addressed at the point of origin.
“Only when queries or issues cannot be resolved by the branch office concerned should the matter be further escalated to the Customs OperationsSupport Centre(osc@sars.gov.za).
