South Africa is in for major customs changes as the South African Revenue Service (SARS) released the draft Customs Control Bill and the draft Customs Duty Bill on 30 October 2009. The draft bills are set to replace the current Customs and Excise Act.

The draft Customs Control Bill will eventually establish a customs control system for all goods imported into or exported from South Africa and will prescribe the operational aspects of the system. The draft Customs Duty Bill will of course provide for the imposition, assessment and collection of customs duties. A third piece of legislation, the Excise Duty Bill, is envisaged that will provide for the imposition, assessment and collection of excise duties. The Excise Duty Bill has not been released yet and will only be released when the Customs Control and Duty Bills have been finalised and implemented, whereafter work will commence on the draft Excise Duty Bill.

Both these draft bills contain numerous amendments and the public has time to comment on these bills until 26 February 2010. However there currently is a request to allow for an extension to submit comments as the bills contain too numerous amendments and is too lengthy to comment on sufficiently in the time period given.

For any further information on the draft Customs Control Bill, the draft Customs Duty Bill or customs duties in general, kindly do not hesitate to contact Rian Geldenhuys.