Textile importer complains of Sars textile stops

The Customs officials at SA Revenue Service (Sars) are once again targeting imports of clothing and textiles – an area where illegal importing is rife. The latest sortie (following other similar tactics last December and this April) is being conducted by the Textile and Clothing Campaign (TCC) team – a reconstituted version of the original MoU (memorandum of understanding) team which concentrated on SA imports of Chinese textile products immediately after the implementation of quotas for cheap Chinese imports that threatened locally manufactured alternatives. The problem Sars currently faces, an inside source told FTW, is still the problem of illegal or restricted clothing and textile imports, but not necessarily just from China. Drawing attention to the new TCC campaign, a clearing and forwarding agent reader of FTW (who asked to remain nameless) complained that the team was stopping all imports of textiles into SA for examination. “This is pushing up the costs of imported fabric – due to storage, demurrage and exam costs.” It had happened three times recently to import boxes being cleared by his company, the reader further complained – “irritatingly often”, he added. An unusually high frequency aimed at one company, agreed Brian Brink, executive director of the Textile Federation – and not a problem that any of his members had complained about. “Also, most unlike customs,” he told FTW, “which has a strong policy of facilitating the movement of trade. “Sars also tends to conduct a risk profile for each of its clients, and if Joe Soap & Co is squeaky-clean, his goods tend to get through unhindered.” But, if there’s a black mark against the name of that forwarder, or one particular client of his, it could be a different story, he added.