Software will process local content records

MATCHING THE demand from a large number of customers in the clearing and forwarding industry, Compu Clearing is busy building new management control functions into its system. “Because a number of c&f agents for the automotive industry are our clients,” said chairman, Arnold Garber, “we already have many functions on our system that apply to the auto industry.” But Compu Clearing currently has something on the drawing boards that will be a valuable new addition to its services. The company is busy working out software that will electronically process the local content records required throughout the various phases of the auto industry – an extremely complex calculation, and currently a manual bugbear for most of the companies in the auto processing chain. The reason that the DA 190 form – the declaration of a component’s local/imported content ratio – is important, is that it must be calculated at every stage of the construction of automotive components or full vehicle units to decide on the tax benefits that will be granted to the final exporter under the motor industry development programme (MIDP). This is an import/export complementation arrangement, where the local content value of components or built-up vehicles exported earns credits that can be used to rebate import duties on components and vehicles. The government, according to Garber, recognises four levels of suppliers in the auto processing chain, each of whom must pass along to the next a DA 190 control form certifying the local/imported ratio each step along the way. “The last in the chain,” he said, “is the exporter, who then calculates the total local content, and the import duty rebates this will allow the company.” The foundation on which Compu Clearing has based its new programme addition is from the company processing all the bills of entry for imports – which effectively supply a detailed listing of all the imported content. “There is no system for electronically processing the DA 190s from these bills of entry,” said Garber,” but we are busy developing one that will supply input to all the suppliers along the chain.”