Slow progress on Customs rules and regulations

While comments and feedback on South Africa’s new customs control bill have been submitted, there is still no indication of when the rules and regulations guiding the customs duty bill as well as the customs and excise amendment bill will be published. With various organisations and individual customs experts having submitted comments on the 40 chapters guiding the customs control bill, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) provided feedback on the fourth and last batch of rules at the end of last month. But no word was given on when the outstanding 30-odd chapters of rules and regulations would be published or what the deadline for public comment would be. Sars has, however, publicly acknowledged that the new legislation will not be implemented as was first envisioned. “Sars initially anticipated implementing the majority of the provisions of the Customs Control Act, 2014 and the Customs Duty Act, 2014, in June or July 2015,” reads a statement. “Due to a number of factors, including the ongoing consultative process with stakeholders, Sars has revised the anticipated implementation date. It now aims to implement the Acts later in 2015 or during the course of 2016. “Sars will continue to communicate with stakeholders with regard to the implementation of the Acts and adequate notice will be given as to when registration and licensing applications may be submitted in terms of the Customs Control Act.” According to an industry customs expert, the final rules and regulations incorporating the changes and amendments made by stakeholders and accepted by Sars will also have to be circulated before the law can be implemented. “The process still has some way to go before the law comes into effect,” said a source. At a workshop hosted in Pretoria, Sars officials provided feedback on the fourth batch indicating they had taken much of the comment received into consideration and several proposals had been accepted. Concerns raised by industry on the chosen methods to pay debt to the commissioner, for example, were taken on board. Sars accepted that methods other than eFiling should be allowed in the event of a system failure and indicated that provision would be made for payment by electronic funds transfer. But requests were also denied such as the proposal that payment by debit or credit card should be extended and that card facilities be made available at all customs cash offices. Sars undertook to consider several comments. Decisions taken in this regard will only be known once the final rules and regulations are published. “We are now waiting to see the first draft of the rules and regulations guiding the customs duty act and the amendment act. It is not known when these will be available,” said the source. INSERT Sars now aims to implement the Acts later in 2015 or during the course of 2016. “