The New Customs Acts Programme (NCAP) has passed its first milestone with the implementation of the first phase of Reporting of Conveyances and Goods (RCG) last weekend. And so far, all has gone smoothly, according to a statement from SA Revenue Service (Sars)
Sars systems were brought down at 17.30 on Friday 20 April as planned and by 19.00 trucks could pass through the land border posts again. The new Cargo Processing System (CPS) was fully functional by Saturday morning when most border posts opened - and final user testing was then undertaken with pre-arranged stakeholders at the various borders. Over the next few weeks, teams will be sent around the country to ensure the changes are embedded internally.
A team was despatched to Durban this week to ensure system stability for the sea modality. “The impact of this rollout has been minimal at land borders as it was simply a system switchover,” said Beyers Theron, Customs executive overseeing NCAP. “However, at sea and air offices, there is a bigger impact as clients who have never submitted electronic cargo reports before now have to do so. Since CPS went live on Saturday just after 6am until Wednesday (25 April) lunchtime, there were 105 000 electronic cargo reports submitted,” he said
“The system rollout has gone smoothly, especially in the land border environment. We understand that it may take a bit longer for sea and air cargo reporters to get used to, hence the low percentage of reports sent in the correct format on the new system,” said Theron. “During this embedding period we will work closely with trade to ensure they get used to submitting all the required reports in the correct format on the new system.”
He has urged all clients who are not yet compliant to make contact with Sars by mailing OSC@sars.gov.za. More information is also available on the Sars website - click on the RCG webpage.”
