Shaping customs future

Do you still have space on your New Year’s resolution list or want to make a change? Or does the list already need an overhaul? If a change or refocusing is required, and if you are a customs and... 

Flight or fright?

What do you do when your local produce cannot compete in your domestic market? And, before answering, what should your priority be? You pursue an export-driven strategy as your focus. Want to guess... 

Nailing it?

Abraham Maslow, of ‘hierarchy of needs’ fame, in his 1966 book, The Psychology of Science, referenced an earlier quote from Abraham Kaplan, the first philosopher to systematically examine the... 

Termination or extermination?

At times like these, I am reminded of the sagacious words of my grandfather: “If you are not confused, then you do not have all the fact.” Irene Peter offers a slightly different reflection: “If... 

Metal fatigue

“I can’t believe the news today (January 06); oh, I can’t close my eyes and make it go away. How long, how long must we sing this song? How long? How long?”  – to borrow the opening lyrics of Irish... 

Year of the safeguard

Why? Yes, let’s start the year with a ‘why’. Why did the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) announce the initiation of its safeguard investigation in the... 

WTO DG reappointed

The World Trade Organisation (WTO) Council on November 29 announced, by consensus, the early reappointment of its director-general, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to a second four-year term, which begins... 

The best things in life . . .

It appeared almost unnoticed in a flurry of ‘Latest News’ notifications on the National Treasury’s website on November 13. Can you guess what it is? Well, in the order of publication, the items... 

Trusted Tour Operator Scheme

“I’m happy to say that today is the day. I’m super-excited. I’m shouting, 'Hooray!’" A special acknowledgement for this to renowned poet Kenn Nesbitt from https://poetry4kids.com/poems. Of course,... 

A century of Cf

The abbreviation Cf stands for the Latin words confer and conferatur, meaning 'compare'. By definition, conferatur instructs the reader to compare one thing with another. But, of course, I wouldn’t... 

Tough going

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” as Billy Ocean reminds us in his 1986 hit. But, as we listen to those words, one can’t help but wonder: Tough for whom? Is it for you, for me, for... 

HS modernisation step

The World Customs Organisation (WCO) on October 29 announced the release of its 95-page ‘Final Report of the Exploratory Study on the Possible Strategic Review of the Harmonised System (HS)’. The... 

Consultant-free trade

Do you import goods into the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu)? Do you manufacture goods in the Sacu region? Additionally, do you import components into this region which you use in the... 

CO2, GH2, GHG, H2, LH2, NH3

Do these acronyms – chemical symbols, to be precise – mean anything to you? I apologise for unearthing any long-buried horrors from your school science days. While you ponder your mark out of a... 

Registration, licensing and accreditation

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced on October 7 that it had added new online self-service features for Registration, Licensing and Accreditation (RLA) under the Sars Online Query... 

Women exporters’ fund

On September 11, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) announced the commencement of the implementation of a fund for women exporters by welcoming its first... 

TRIMs, TRIPs and now TrPMs

If you are a World Trade Organisation (WTO  groupie, you would undoubtedly be familiar with TRIMs and TRIPS. If the acronyms are alien, or you require a quick refresher, TRIMs stands for Agreement... 

Customs offences and more

The South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced on August 22 that its Contravention List published on August 13 had been withdrawn and that, as a result, the previous list remains in effect.... 

Technical tariff amendments

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... 

Export-oriented déjà vu plan

It is said that there is ‘old news’, ‘yesterday’s news’, and ‘new news’. But why can there not be ‘no news’ as well? By ‘no news’ I mean information that simply is not, could not, and should not... 

Australia’s nuisance tariffs

I vividly recall a time when the radio held proud place – front and centre – on the dining room table. It was also a time when radio pledges were the order of the day. Pledgers were given the... 

e-Imports tax free no more

"All good things must come to an end, but all bad things can continue forever." This is according to the 'King of Horror', American author Stephen King. Whether 'a good thing' has indeed come to an... 

Out, damned spot

Macbeth: Act 2, Scene 2: Lady Macbeth comes to share Macbeth’s horrified sense of being stained, exclaiming: “Out, damned spot; out, I say...” The word ‘spot’ derives from the Middle Dutch word... 

Some recollections may vary

If you need a reminder, the headline is borrowed from the late Queen of the UK and other Commonwealth realms. If you take offence at ‘borrowed’, consider that the British have borrowed a lot from... 

Port limits extension input

In a notice published in the Government Gazette on July 12, the Department of Transport invited maritime stakeholders, the general public and affected communities to submit written representations... 

A solar eclipse

Quite fittingly, once the comment period for an International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) tariff application published in the Government Gazette for public comment has... 

It’s fee trade, not free trade

Have you ever wondered how much it costs the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) to process a ‘duly completed application’ for an import and export permit, a rebate... 

ICC Genesis

First things first: ICC stands for ‘International Chamber of Commerce’, the biggest and most representative business organisation in the world, with more than 45-million members in more than 100... 

Published tariff determinations

Whether you are an importer or exporter, or a local manufacturer, have you ever pondered how one, or maybe even a few, of your competitors have been more competitive than you when their goods have... 

Daylight fading

Palm oil

The headline should not be confused with the slang that abbreviates the phrase “oil someone’s palm”, which means to derive a favourable outcome based on providing a monetary incentive; in other... 

Drumming up protection

I do appreciate that the Government Gazette is not the favoured reading material for many, and its detractors might equate reading it to reading a telephone directory, which someone actually did.... 

The R1 crude refinery

A token sum, also known as peppercorn, is a symbolic but important part of a contract showing that ‘some consideration’ has been paid. The amount is not important, as long as it shows that... 

Fiscal transparency scorecard

On May 8, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its High-Level Summary Technical Assistance Report on South Africa’s Fiscal Transparency Evaluation (FTE) in response to the National... 

Don’t’ be . . .

In my piece last week, titled ‘Numbing dumping’, you were offered recipes for ‘A Good, Easy Garlic Chicken’ and French fries. The relevance of the recipes was that antidumping duties have been... 

Numbing dumping

Do you by any chance have a recipe for ‘A Good, Easy Garlic Chicken’ and one for French fries? According to www.allrecipes.com, you simply sprinkle the chicken with garlic powder, onion powder and... 

Intellectual Property Day

What were you doing on April 26? Anything nice? Anything memorable? This is the day that is observed yearly as World Intellectual Property Day. It was on this day in 1970 that the convention... 

Calling a spade

An alternative headline I had for this week's instalment of this column was ‘Wing it’ but I decided against it, as I am perilously close to exceeding my yearly quota on that topic. What choice, and... 

The Marrakesh pearl

Where were you 30 years ago, on Friday, April 15, 1994? By the way, if you have been holding on to your old 1994 calendar, you will be able to reuse it in 2033. This is based on the assumption that... 

Manufacturing support

The Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (dtic) on April 4 released an information notice extending an invitation to submit a substantiated application for its Manufacturing Support...