On 14 August 2015 the South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced two tariff amendments to the Act and one amendment to the Value-added Tax, 1991 to reflect the Special Economic Zones Act, 2014 (SEZ Act) at the request of the Trade and Industry Minister.
The first tariff amendment relates to the substitution of the ‘NOTES’ of Rebate Item 498.00 to Part 6 of Schedule No.4 to the Act ‘Imported Goods Admitted under Rebate of Duty for use in Specified Activities in the Customs Controlled Area ("CCA") Contemplated in Section 21A’ of the Special Economic Zones Act, 2014 (SEZ Act).
It reads ‘For the purposes of this item and the application of any provisions of Schedule No 4. 1. Goods may only be entered under item 498.01 by a registered CCA enterprise as contemplated in section 21A. 2. Goods may only be entered under item 498.02 by a registered SEZ operator as contemplated in rule 21A.04. 3. Goods imported under item 498.00 must be entered thereunder whether or not the goods are liable to any duty. However, any goods imported for storage in a CCA enterprise may not be entered under item 498.00. 4. Goods imported under item 498.00 or goods produced or manufactured there from may not be removed from a CCA for consumption in the common customs area except if the goods have been entered at the office of the Controller and the duty due thereon has been paid. 5. The expression "infrastructure" shall be limited to the basic structural elements permanently installed in a CCA (including e.g. sanitation, electricity, roads, bridges, buildings and the like). 6. The movement of any goods to or from a CCA enterprise including the movement of goods to another enterprise, any other rebate user outside the CCA or partly manufactured goods to any rebate user shall be subject to the rules for section 21A.’
The second tariff amendment relates to the substitution of Rebate item 498.02/00.00/01.00/02 to the SEZ Act, to read ‘Goods of any description imported by a registered SEZ operator for use in the construction and maintenance of the infrastructure of a CCA in an SEZ’.
The implementation date will be the date the Regulations, of the yet to be published SEZ Act, comes into operation