On 28 February, Sars invited comment on the rule amendment for ships' or aircraft stores consumed in South Africa, which is due by 13 March.
Section 24 of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964, (the Act) provides for the supply of stores to foreign-going ships on pleasure cruises. Amendments to rules 24.01 and 24.04 in relation to the supply of duty-free ship stores to pleasure cruise ships operating within the territorial waters of South Africa, are proposed: (i) Insertion in rule 24.01 of reference to the definition of "foreign-going ship" in rule 38A.01 of the Act to clarify that only "foreign–going ships" should benefit from the issuance of duty free stores regime. (ii) Currently, rule 24.04 emphasizes the foreign registry of ships, however; the aforementioned requirement has no relevance or impact on duty relief. Deletion of the foreign registry of ships requirement in rule 24.04 is proposed. (iii) Rule 24.04 in its current form provides for exemptions from payment of duties on quantities of stores of specific tariff headings subject to the discretion of the Controller. The proposed amendment will remove the Controller’s discretion in respect of quantities of duty-free stores.
Story by: Riaan de Lange
