Sailing Magazine
Customs has been undergoing modernisation for the last few years. This entails replacing the Customs & Excise Act of 1964, which is pretty much outdated, with the Customs Control Act of 2014.
Customs are publishing the draft Rules that will govern the new Act. Documents below:
SARS Draft Rules Chapter 11 to 20 and 24 for comment
SARS 20140812 – Customs Control Act
SARS 20140701 – LAPD-LPrep-Draft-2014-44 – Draft Customs Control Rules Comment Sheet
What is relevant to us are the rules governing proposed changes to the way visiting yachts will be treated. The latest tranche of Draft Rules (covering chapters 11 to 20 and 24 – 2nd attachment) as attached affect yachts directly in 24.11 and 24.13. The Rules indicate the intention to create a simplified procedure for import clearance of visiting yachts: A Traveller declaration, which will serve in lieu of a DA1/DA3, and will be passed on arrival at a South African port.
Interested parties have until 26 September to comment (attachment).
This subject was broached with me some time last year, and was passed on to MIASA (Marine Industry Association of SA) to get clarity on. Well Vanessa Davidson, CEO of MIASA, has been hard at work.
While it’s typical of Government bodies to expect immediate feedback, they simply forget that most of us work for a living and don’t have all day to do nothing and nothing to do all day!
The more people who read it and comment the better.
