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Customs News Bulletin

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23 September 2015

 

 

Latest News

SOUTH AFRICAN DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS TO DEVELOP NATIONAL CHEMICAL PROFILE.

In a document titled: “REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON CHEMICALS PRODUCED, USED, IMPORTED OR EXPORTED BY SOUTH AFRICA”, the South African National Department of Environmental Affairs, as competent and controlling authority of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) to which the country is signatory, has published a document which is titled above.

The purpose of the document is to invite the parties listed above to provide information on the amount of chemicals that are handled by them in order for the Department to comply with its international commitments under the MEAs which include the Montreal Protocol, The Rotterdam Convention and the Stockholm Convention.

The information gathered by the Department of Environmental Affairs will eventually be used to develop a National Chemical Profile for the purposes of South Africa’s international commitments under the MEAs.

Companies who produced, imported or exported chemicals listed in Annexure A and B of the notice are invited to submit their notices to the Department by 18 November 2015. Templates have been provided in Annexures A and B. The annexures are titled “List of Chemicals” and “List of Substances (including refrigerants)”.

The participants are invited to provide the following information in respect of each annexure:

·         Trade Name of Chemical;

·         Harmonized System Tariff subheading;

·         Company information; and

·         Quantities handled between the period 2010 and 2014 (in respect of Annexure A) and quantities handled between 2007 and 2014 (in respect of Annexure B).

The notice is in PDF but interested parties may request Word copies from the Department.

For more information contact Ms Mangaka Mahloko (e-mail: mmahloko@environment.gov.za at telephone (012) 399 9850 or fax (012) 359 3625).

Download Notice 703 of 2015 which was published in Government Gazette 39216 of 18 September 2015 from  http://www.gov.za/sites/www.gov.za/files/39216_gen703s.pdf for more information.

 

Customs Tariff Applications and Outstanding Tariff Amendments

The International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) is responsible for tariff investigations, amendments, and trade remedies in South Africa and on behalf of SACU.

Tariff investigations include: Increases in the customs duty rates in Schedule No. 1 Part 1 of Jacobsens. These applications apply to all the SACU Countries, and, if amended, thus have the potential to affect the import duty rates in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and South Africa.

Reductions in the customs duty rates in Schedule No. 1 Part 1. These applications apply to all the SACU Countries, and, if amended, thus have the potential to affect the import duty rates in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland and South Africa.

Rebates of duty on products, available in the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), for use in the manufacture of goods, as published in Schedule No. 3 Part 1, and in Schedule No. 4 of Jacobsens. Schedule No. 3 Part 1 and Schedule No. 4, are identical in all the SACU Countries.

Rebates of duty on inputs used in the manufacture of goods for export, as published in Schedule No. 3 Part 2 and in item 470.00. These provisions apply to all the SACU Countries.

Refunds of duties and drawbacks of duties as provided for in Schedule No. 5. These provisions are identical in the all the SACU Countries.

Trade remedies include: Anti-dumping duties (in Schedule No. 2 Part 1 of Jacobsens), countervailing duties to counteract subsidisation in foreign countries (in Schedule No. 2 Part 2), and safeguard duties (Schedule No. 2 Part 3), which are imposed as measures when a surge of imports is threatening to overwhelm a domestic producer, in accordance with domestic law and regulations and consistent with WTO rules.

Dumping is defined as a situation where imported goods are being sold at prices lower than in the country of origin, and also causing financial injury to domestic producers of such goods. In other words, there should be a demonstrated causal link between the dumping and the injury experienced.

To remedy such unfair pricing, ITAC may, at times, recommend the imposition of substantial duties on imports or duties that are equivalent to the dumping margin (or to the margin of injury, if this margin is lower).

Countervailing investigations are conducted to determine whether to impose countervailing duties to protect a domestic industry against the unfair trade practice of proven subsidised imports from foreign competitors that cause material injury to a domestic producer.

Safeguard measures, can be introduced to protect a domestic industry against unforeseen and overwhelming foreign competition and not necessarily against unfair trade, like the previous two instruments.

The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) published the following application to amend the Customs Tariff of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) under List 09/2015. 

The tariff amendment application relates to an increase in the rate of customs duty on certain aluminium plates, sheets, strips and foil products classifiable under tariff heading 76.06 and 76.07 from free of duty to a WTO bound rate of 15%.

List 09/2015 was published under Notice 909 of 2015 in Government Gazette 39201 of 11 September 2015.  Comments on the application are due by 9 October 2015.

List 08/2015 was published under Notice 859 of 2015 in Government Gazette 39127 of 21 August 2015.  Refer to the Jacobsens Customs News Bulletin of 9 September 2015 for more information.

 

 

 

Customs Tariff Amendments

With the exception of certain parts of Schedule No. 1, such as Schedule No. 1 Part 2 (excise duties), Schedule No. 1 Part 3 (environmental levies) Schedule No. 1 Part 5 (fuel and road accident fund levies), the other parts of the tariff is amended by SARS based on recommendations made by ITAC resulting from the investigations relating to Customs Tariff Applications received by them. The ITAC then investigates and makes recommendations to the Minister of Trade and Industry, who requests the Minister of Finance to amend the Tariff in line with the ITAC’s recommendations. SARS is responsible for drafting the notices to amend the tariff, as well as for arranging for the publication of the notices in Government Gazettes.

During the annual budget speech by the Minister of Finance in February, it was determined that parts of the tariff that are not amended resulting from ITAC recommendations, must be amended through proposals that are tabled by the Minister of Finance.

Once a year big tariff amendments are published by SARS, which is in line with the commitments of South Africa and SACU under international trade agreements.

Under these amendments, which are either published in November or early in December, the import duties on goods are reduced under South Africa’s international trade commitments under existing trade agreements.

The following tariff amendments were published in Government Gazette No 39219 of 18 September 2015, under Notices Numbers R. 601 and R. 602:

Under the first amendment, the Seychelles is added to General Note K.6 as requested by the Minister of Trade and Industry following the accession of the Seychelles to the SADC Protocol on Trade, in terms of section 48 of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964.  The effective rate of this amendment is 1 April 2015.

The impact of this amendment is that the Seychelles will now qualify for SADC preferential status if the import-ations comply with SADC Rules of Origin provisions.

Under the second amendment, the rebate provision which provided for a partial rebate on display panels for the manufacture of television sets (rebate item 316.17/85.29/ 02.04) is deleted with immediate effect as recommended in ITAC Report 498.

The loose-leaf pages to amend the Jacobsens Harmonized Customs Tariff were sent to subscribers under cover of Supplement 1057.

 

Customs Rule Amendments

The Customs and Excise Act is amended by the Minister of Finance. Certain provisions of the Act are supported by Customs and Excise Rules, which are prescribed by the Commission of SARS. These provisions are numbered in accordance with the sections of the Act. The rules are more user-friendly than the Act, and help to define provisions which would otherwise be unclear and difficult to interpret.

Forms are also prescribed by rule, and are published in the Schedule to the Rules.

Forms are also prescribed by rule, and are published in the Schedule to the Rules. 

There were no Rule amendments at time of publication.

On 3 July 2015, SARS Customs published an Amendment of the Customs and Excise Rules under section 21A relating to special economic zones (SEZs).

The rule amendment (DAR/156) was published on 3 July 2015 in Government Gazette 38925 under Notice R. 566.

The effective date of this amendment will be on the date that the regulations under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2014 come into effect.

Download the latest Customs Watch at www.jacobsens.co.za to have access to the latest tariff and rule amendments.

 

LexisNexis

 

 

 

 

 

Contact Information:

 

Contact the Author:

Mayuri Govender
Jacobsens Editor

Tel: 031-268 3273
e-mail to:
jacobsen@lexisnexis.co.za

 

Leon Marais
Independent Customs Consultant
Tel: 053-203 0727
e-mail to:
leon.marais@intekom.co.za

 

LexisNexis

 

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