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CUSTOMS AND EXCISE ACT, 2014 PUBLISHED
Jacobsens reported on the
publication of two new Customs and namely the Customs Control Act (Act
31 of 2014) and the Customs Duty Act (Act 30 of 2014) in the Customs News
Bulletin of 30 July 2014.
The President has also assented to the publication of a third
Customs Act, namely the Customs and Excise Amendment Act (Act 32 of
2014) which was published for general information under Notice No. 583
of 23 July 2014 in Government Gazette 37863.
The Customs and Excise Amendment Act, 2014 should be read with
the Customs Control Act, 2014 and the Customs Duty Act, 2014 and shall
come into operation on the same date as the Customs Control Act, 2014
and the Customs Duty Act, 2014.
All three Acts shall enter into force on a date determined by
the President by proclamation in the Government Gazette.
With the exception of Chapters 22 and 38 of the Customs
Control Act which deals with international postal articles handled by
the South African Post Office and voluntary disclosure relief
respectively, all Acts will enter into force on the same date.
It should however be noted that the President may not
determine that date unless the Customs Duty Act, 2014 is amended by the
addition of a Customs Tariff (Schedule 1 to 5) to that Act and by the
addition of an Excise Tariff in an annexure to the Excise Duty Act.
In the meantime the deadline period for the first batch of
draft rules which was circulated in terms of the Customs Control
Act, 2014 has expired and the second batch covering the rules for
Chapters 11 to 20 and Chapter 24 has been published on the SARS website
for comments on 26 September 2014. The ‘draft rules’ can be
located by clicking here. SARS have requested stakeholders to make use
of the comment sheet which is provided with the Draft Rules. The balance
of the draft rules will follow soon.
The Customs and Excise Amendment Act, 2014 will amend the
provisions of the Customs and Excise provisions relating to customs
control and customs duty by repealing them. At the same time the
Customs and Excise Act, 1964 will then be renamed the Excise Duty Act
(Act 91 of 1964).
Firstly all provisions superseded by general provisions of the
Customs Control Act, 2014 applicable to all tax levying Acts will be
deleted from the Customs and Excise Act, 1964.
Secondly all provisions relating to the customs control of
imported goods of imported and exported goods will be deleted from the
Customs and Excise Act, 1964.
Thirdly all provisions relating to the imposition, collection
and refunding of customs duties and other matters relating to Customs
duties will be deleted from the Customs and Excise Act, 1964;
As a consequence the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 will be
restricted to the remaining provisions of the current Customs and
Excise Act, 1964 relating to excise duties, fuel levies, road accident
fund levies, environmental levies, air passenger taxes and matters
relating to such duties; and
The name of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 will subsequently
be changed to the Excise Duty Act, 1964.
Under the Excise Duty Act, 1964 the prescribed period for
refunds on excise duties will be increased from two years to three
years.
The Customs Control Act will serve as a platform for a host of
other Acts which includes tax levying acts such as the Customs Duty Act
and the Excise Duty Act, 1964. The Customs Control Act 2014 will
deal with the importation and exportation of excisable, fuel levy, Road
Accident Fund Levy and environmental levy goods while the Excise Duty
Act will continue to deal with the same goods which are manufactured.
However, since the Customs Control Act, 2014 is the main Act
cross-cutting issues, relating to customs and excise whether or not
imported or locally produced, will be covered by the Customs Control
Act, 2014 and not by the Excise Duty Act, 1964. Examples of such issues
include delegations, confidentiality, and enforcement by customs
officers, state warehouses, security, voluntary closure relief,
internal relief and judicial proceedings for recovery of tax.
The Customs Control Act, 2014, the Customs Duty Act, 2014 and
the Excise Duty Act, 1964 are inter-related, and with the exception of
Chapters 22 and 38 of the Customs Control Act which will apply from a
later date all acts will enter into force on the same date once the Customs
Duty Act has been amended by the addition of the Customs Tariff- in the
form of Schedules 1 to 5, and once the Excise Duty Act, 1964 has been
amended by the addition of an Excise Tariff.
In terms of section 43B to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964, certain
provisions of the Customs Duty Act, 2014 will apply to excisable goods,
being imported, as a temporary measure, in relation to dutiability, liability, assessment procedures,
tariff classification, valuation, payment, collection, refunds,
interest, etc.
RULES TO CUSTOMS CONTROL BILL
RELEASED FOR COMMENT
(Due date for comments: 26 September 2014)
Since the start of South Africa’s Customs modernisation
journey various versions of the proposed new Customs Control Act has
been published for comments. The first round was published in October 2009, and a revised
version in May 2014.
Stakeholders were however concerned that the Rules to the new
legislation have never been published for comment.
The Rules will be published for comment in various batches prior
to the promulgation of the new legislation, and the second batch to the
Customs Control Act have been published on the website of the
South African Revenue Services (SARS) on 17 June 2014.
The draft Rules that were published were those for Chapters 11 to 20 and 24 of the proposed Customs
Control Act and should be read with those Chapters of the Customs
Control Act (Act 31 of 2014).
The draft Rules can be downloaded from the SARS website. A
comment sheet is also available on the SARS website.
Your comments should be submitted to sauthar@sars.gov.za before 26
September 2014.
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