What is a technical tariff amendment? On August 22, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced that its Tariff Amendments Landing Page had been updated to expand the note section below the heading ‘Technical Tariff Amendments’.

Before getting to the update, which does not answer the question, let’s consider the Technical Amendments to the Schedules of the Customs And Excise Act, 1964, which Sars publishes only once a year. The first sentence in the opening paragraph reads: “The draft amendments to the Schedules of the Act, 1964, are technical in nature and will have no effect on the duty structure.”

So, this is what a technical tariff amendment is. The publication continues: “The amendments are as a result of requests by industry, Sars or other government agencies and are scheduled for implementation on the day the approved amendments are published in the Government Gazette.”

Concerning Sars’ amendment of its landing page, it continues: “The requested eight-digit tariff subheadings will be reviewed continuously and, if there is no usage/imports for a period of two years, the subheadings will be deleted from the tariff book.”

So, technical tariff amendments do not relate to the outcome of Sars reviews only; it’s also possible for businesses to apply for the creation of eight-digit tariff subheadings. The applications must be submitted by no later than March 31 of each year for them to be considered for inclusion in the year-end tariff amendments that will come into effect on January 1 of the following year in each Southern African Customs Union (Sacu) member State. The applications should be sent to technicaltariff@sars.gov.za.

All submitted applications should be accompanied by a motivational letter outlining the reasons for the application and must include, among other things, the following: the financial impact of the applicant and/or industry in the Sacu market; the contribution to job creation by the applicant and/or industry in the Sacu market; if it is a request for statistical purposes, an explanation of why statistical information of this nature cannot be obtained by other means; an indication of whether the proposed request has a consequential effect on the current Schedules of the Common External Tariff; and an indication of whether the request has an impact on trade remedies, rebates, refunds, or drawbacks under investigation by the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac). If this is the case, an indication of whether Itac was consulted, along with email correspondence with, and response from, Itac.

Sars indicated that the following disclaimer will apply to nonconfidential applications: “Please note that the particulars given will form the basis of the application and could be made available to interested parties.”

The revenue service added two notes:

• Technical amendments to insert eight-digit tariff subheadings for statistical purposes will not be implemented in the year during which the Sacu member States are implementing a new version of the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) to amend the four-digit and six-digit tariff headings internationally, as recommended by the World Customs Organisation. (The next HS amendment is due for release on January 1, 2028.)

• The requested eight-digit tariff subheadings will be reviewed continuously and, if there is no usage/imports for a period of two years, the tariff subheadings will be deleted from the tariff book.

While on the topic of tariff amendments, ‘Taxation Proposals’ for a particular year are tabled by the Finance Minister as part of the Minister’s Budget Review, and the time of tabling is certified by Parliament for the purpose of excise accounts. The time of tabling will be indicated on the particular Budget Day on the Sars website with the release of the Taxation Proposals documents.

Should you have any interest in ‘ordinary’ tariff amendments, these are published on the Sars website and can be accessed through the navigation panel.

The Technical Tariff Amendments are accessible at www.sars.gov.za/legal-counsel/secondary-legislation/tariff-amendments/

If you are unaware, tariff amendments are published in a notice in the Government Gazette in terms of the Act. The tariff amendments are added to the Sars website around 15:00 on the Thursday before their publication in the Government Gazette the following day.