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Latest News
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SACU TARIFF CHANGES TO BE EXPECTED
IN 2018
The Jacobsens Harmonized Customs Tariff (Jacobsens) is the Common External
Tariff of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). This means that there
are no Customs and Excise duties on movements between Botswana, Lesotho,
Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, and all goods imported from outside
that Customs Union are dutiable at the same rate.
The International Trade Administration of South Africa (ITAC) is responsible
for investigating the rates of duty on goods imported into SACU on behalf of
all SACU Countries.
In 2018 you can expect changes to the rates of duty on:
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Frozen
bone-in chicken (subheading 0207.14);
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Wheat
and wheat flour (subheadings 1001.91 and 1001.99 and 1101.00.10 and
1101.00.90);
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Maize
and maize flour (subheadings 1005.10, 1005.90, 1102.20);
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Sugar
(heading 17.01);
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Sanitary ware of plastics and ceramics (subheadings 3922.10, 6910.10 and
6910.90);
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Various
products of iron and steel, including stainless steel and aluminium
products (72.17, 72.19, 72.20, 73.07, 73.08, 73.12, 73.18, 73.21 and
Chapter76);
and various downstream products which are classifiable in later Chapters of
the Harmonized System. These products include:
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Base
metal mountings, fittings and similar articles suitable for furniture,
doors, staircases, windows, blinds, coachwork, saddlery, trunks, chests,
caskets or the like; base metal hat-racks, hat-pegs, brackets and
similar fixtures; castors with mountings of base metal; automatic door
closers of base metal (heading 83.02);
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Refrigerators, freezers and other refrigerating or freezing equipment,
electric or other; heat pumps (excluding air conditioning machines of
heading 84.15) (heading 84.18);
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Ships'
derricks; cranes, including cable cranes; mobile lifting frames,
straddle carriers and works trucks fitted with a crane (heading 84.26);
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Household or laundry-type washing machines, including machines which
both wash and dry (heading 84.50);
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Electrical transformers, static converters (for example, rectifiers) and
inductors (heading 85.04);
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Certain
railway and tramway equipment (Chapter 86 of the Harmonized System); and
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Certain
passenger and goods vehicles (headings 87.03 and 87.04).
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Classification Corner
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The
Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (Harmonized System) is a
combined tariff/statistical nomenclature. It plays just as import a role in
the compilation and collection of statistics as in revenue collection.
There are
also many other instruments that are used in the collection of statistics
dealing with economic activities, transportable goods and services. There
are various correspondence tables available on the website of the United
Nations Statistical Division in terms of which code numbers of the
nomenclatures can be mapped or linked. However, these correspondence tables
will not be useful if goods are classified incorrectly.
For
statistics to be meaningful it must be compared with other nomenclatures
over a period. All these nomenclatures are also amended regularly, and in
some instances the statistics are covered by more than one review cycle of a
specific nomenclature. For example, if one needs statistics on replacement
LED bulbs, you would need to determine the classification thereof under the
current version of the HS (HS 2017) and you will also need the statistical
information for the HS 2012 version. For this reason, the WCO are publishing
correlation tables which list and explain all changes since the 1988 version
(HS 1988/HS 1992); HS 1992/HS 1996); HS 1996/HS2002; HS 2002/HS 2007; HS
2007/HS2012 and HS 2012/HS 2017). There were mainly editorial changes in the
1992 version of the HS, but since then there has been many important and
ground-breaking changes to assist Customs administrations and other
competent/controlling authorities to monitor and control strategic goods:
dual use goods, weapons of mass destruction, hazardous chemicals, substances
of environmental concern, and for the last couple of review cycles also to
monitor and control foodstuffs that must be monitored for the purposes of
food security. The HS is also reviewed because of changing trade patterns
and due to changes in technology.
The HS
currently has more than 5 300 six-digit subheadings (codes) compared to the
3 121 headings of the United Nations’ Standard International Trade
Classification (SITC). The HS and the SITC are the two most important
nomenclatures for statistics on transportable goods. From time to time the
most important (international) reference nomenclatures for statistical
purposes are amended at the same time to make comparison of data easier.
The
Harmonized System is and remains the most important statistical nomenclature
because it is the most comprehensive statistical nomenclature. The review
cycles of the HS is also shorter and more frequent than the rest.
The General
Interpretative Rules, the legal provisions, and certain principles of
classification make the HS user-friendly and the most successful
international trade instrument that has ever been developed. In addition,
there are many tools and complimentary publications to assist with
classification – such as the Alphabetical Index, the Harmonised System
Explanatory Notes and the Compendium of Classification Opinions. These
publications are in loose-leaf format or in electronic format. These
publications are available from LexisNexis as sole Southern African
distributor of World Customs Organization (WCO) products and publications.
Then there
are also national and regional publications, such as the Jacobsens Guide to
Classification, which is a companion to the Jacobsens Harmonized Customs
Tariff, the Common External Tariff of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South
Africa and Swaziland (the Southern African Customs Union). The Guide to
Classification is also available from LexisNexis. |
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Customs Tariff
Applications and
Outstanding Tariff Amendments
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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 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.
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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.
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.
The International Trade Commission of South Africa (ITAC) also
publishes Sunset Review Applications in relation to anti-dumping
duty in terms of which any definitive anti-dumping duty will be
terminated on a date not later than five years from the date of
imposition, unless the International Trade Administration
Commission determines, in a review initiated before that date on
its own initiative or upon a duly substantiated request made by
or on behalf of the domestic industry, that the expiry of the
duty would likely lead to continuation or recurrence of dumping
and material injury.
There are no
new applications to amend the Common External Tariff (CET) of
the Southern African Customs Union (SACU).
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Customs Tariff Amendments
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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.
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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.
There were various
amendments to the SACU Tariff on 22 and 29 December 2017.
The tariff amendments
were published in Government Gazettes 41353 and 41363 of 22 and
29 December under Notices R. 1474, R. 1475 and R. 1510 to R. 1516.
There amendments
relate to the creation of rebate provisions for various steel products,
an increase in the rate of customs duty on self-adhesive tape
classifiable in subheadings 3919.10.41 and 3919.10.43 to 20% and the
revision of the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) in terms of the SADC Economic
Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the SADC States and the EU.
The tariff amendments
were sent to subscribers under Jacobsens Supplement 1099. |
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Customs Rule Amendments
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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.
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Forms are also
prescribed by rule, and are published in the Schedule to the Rules.
There were no rule
amendments at the time of publication.
The latest Rule
amendment (DAR/170 and DAR/171) were published in Government Gazette
41351
of 22 December 2017. The notice numbers are R. 1471 and R. 1472. |
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