In the instalment of this column published on August 20 and titled ‘Looting Survey and Hotline’, I wrote about the announcement, on August 11, by the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), of its survey on the impact of the recent looting on business operations, and of the establishment of the department's Economic Recovery Hotline.

Subsequently, on August 16, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) released a Government Gazette notice titled ‘Guidelines, Rules and Conditions Pertaining to Certificates Issued under Paragraph (a) of Rebate Item 412.11/00.00/01.00 for Goods Imported for the Relief of Distress of Persons in Cases of Famine or Other National Disaster’.

To clarify, the rebate item contains three paragraphs, with Paragraph (a) relating to “the relief of distress of persons in cases of famine or other national disaster”, while Paragraph (b) relates to “any technical assistance agreement” and and paragraph (c) to “an obligation under any multilateral international agreement to which the Republic of South Africa is a party”.

Returning to the guidelines, rules and conditions – these are intended to assist with applications for the duty-free importation of goods by domestic manufacturers whose production of goods was affected by the civil unrests that occurred in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in mid-July.

The guidelines detail the application process as well as the documents and information to be provided to Itac when applying for a rebate certificate in terms of Rebate Item 412.11. As noted in the guidelines, prior to submitting application forms and related documents to Itac, applicants must submit certain documents and information to the DTIC, which will determine a manufacturer’s eligibility for the rebate. Based on its evaluation, the DTIC will forward a recommendation to Itac. The Government Gazette cautions that manufacturers should note that they will also need to comply with any requirements of the South African Revenue Service.

In addition to the Rebate Item 412.11 application process, Itac also sought, by August 30, comments on this rebate of the duty initiative.

Returning to the application process, a domestic manufacturer of goods may apply for the use of Rebate Item 412.11 to import goods that it normally manufactures domestically where (a) the applicant has been directly affected by the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng which occurred in or around the week of July 11, in that one or more of its manufacturing facilities were destroyed or materially damaged by persons taking part in the civil unrest; (b) the manufacturing processes of the applicant were disrupted to such an extent that its domestic manufacturing output ceased or will be substantially reduced for a significant period of time, resulting in an unforeseen shortfall in the volume of goods that it had planned to supply from the manufacturing facility or facilities that were destroyed or materially damaged; (c) the impact on its manufacturing processes can have or had a material adverse effect on employment; (d) no goods identical to those to be imported by the applicant are available in the domestic market in the same quantities that the applicant was able to produce periodically prior to the civil unrest, as compared with other domestic manufacturers unaffected by the civil unrest; orders have been received by the applicant for, or the applicant offered for sale on the domestic market, goods of the same model and/or type as the ‘shortfall goods’; (f) the applicant is not able to fulfil such orders from its existing stocks; and (g) the applicant plans to bring its domestic manufacturing processes back to full capacity in the short to medium term.

The domestic manufacturers’ completed five-page application form, which is contained in the Government Gazette of August 16, must be sent to this email address: itac412@itac.org.za