ANTI-DUMPING SUNSET REVIEW INITIATED ON UNFRAMED GLASS MIRRORS FROM INDIA

When anti-dumping duties are imposed, they remain in place for 5 years, at which point they expire unless a sunset review is initiated. In South Africa this means that the current anti-dumping duties will remain in…

Duty increase requested on shower doors

Finestra Shower Doors, a division of Casso Cabinets (Pty) Ltd, has applied for a duty increase on shower doors classified under tariff subheading 7610.10, from 10% to 15% ad valorem and shower doors classified under 7020.00…

Application for a rebate of duty on chicken

Matador Slagtery requested a rebate of duty on boneless leg quarters imported under tariff subheading 0207.14.15, which attracts a 42% duty. If they succeed with their application, imports of boneless leg quarters will not attract the…

Worrying conditions attached to the rebate of duties on fabrics used in the manufacture of upholstered furniture

I don’t like it. ITAC have published the guidelines, rules and conditions pertaining to fabrics imported under rebate of duty, for use in the manufacture of upholstered furniture and they worry me. This rebate exists because…

(More) litigation against ITAC and Minister Patel

Papers have been served on ITAC and Minister Patel to compel the Minister to remove the anti-dumping duties on frozen potato chips from Belgium and the Netherlands. The legal issue is simple. Once an anti-dumping investigation…

rebate created for wARp knit fabrics used in the manufacture of upholstered furniture

On 28 May 2021 amendments to Part 1 of Schedule No. 3 was published for rebate item 320.01/6005.3/01.05, to create a rebate facility for warp knit fabrics classifiable in tariff heading 60.05, for use in the…

Application for a rebate on Titanium Dioxide

Titanium dioxide is a chemical that makes things white. Paints, plastics and so on. Ferro South Africa (a chemical, not a steel company), applied for a rebate on titanium oxide (tariff code 3206.11) used in the…

Amendment and creation of rebates on certain textiles

On 21 May 2021, ITAC published an investigation for the amendment and creation rebate facilities under rebate item 311.42. The products covered include other woven fabrics of cotton; woven fabrics of flax; woven fabric of synthetic…

Amendment to the Preferential Pricing System (PPS) for scrap metal. Again.

Yet another change to the PPS rules. For a system due to euthanised on 1 August 2021, when export duties on scrap metal are imposed, an inordinate amount of tinkering is still happening. Tinkering designed, as…

Request to extend the safeguard duties on fully threaded screws with hexagon heads

These are known as set screws. I don’t why, because they are not sold in sets nor do they much resemble screws. More like a bolt with the fully shank threaded. These set screws currently attract…

Duties increased on foot operated grease guns

On 8 May 2020, Gurtech (Pty) Ltd applied for a duty increase on foot-operated grease guns. On 21 May 2021, this duty increase was granted by way of creating a new tariff code (8479.89.50) for this…

Duties increased on wheat and flour

The duties have been increased on wheat and flour have increased as follows: The duty increase applies to all regions besides SADC, which remains duty-free. The duties on wheat are automatically triggered based on the global…

Duties removed on helmets used for motorsports

The duties have been removed on helmets used in motorsports, both for motorcycle and motorboat activities. This has been done by way of creating a new tariff code (6506.10.20), splitting this out of the prior “Other”…

Request to reduce duties on stemming plugs

ERG Industrial (Pty) Ltd applied for a duty reduction, from 20% ad valorem to free of duty, on “stemming plugs for mining and civil blast holes”, classifiable under the new tariff subheading 3926.90.90. Reasons for the…

Provisional anti-dumping duties imposed on pasta

Provisional anti-dumping duties were imposed on pasta, imported under tariff codes 1902.11 and 1902.19, manufactured in Egypt, Latvia, Lithuania and Turkey, on 1 April 2021 and will remain in place until 16 September 2021. If the…

Review of the tariff structure of the poultry industry

Minister Patel has issued a directive to ITAC to review the tariff structure for poultry classifiable under tariff heading 0207.1 (all fresh and frozen chicken varieties). According to the gazette, the Minister directed ITAC to “review…

Request for yet more steel rebates

Steelbank Merchants requested a rebate of duty on “Flat-rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel, of a width of 600 mm or more, in coils, not further worked than hot-rolled, pickled, of a thickness of 3…

Anti-dumping investigation initiated on float glass from malaysia

PFG Building Glass has initiated an anti-dumping action against Malaysia on clear float glass of thickness of 3mm, 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 8mm, 10mm and 12mm. This is the 3rd anti-dumping action against float glass in 2.5…

New chicken anti-dumping investigation

The South African Poultry Association (SAPA) have filed yet another anti-dumping application, this time on bone-in chicken from Brazil, Denmark, Ireland, Poland and Spain. We have not yet had sight of the application and the initiation…

AfCFTA – Some offers (finally) received

South Africa have formally received offers from Egypt, São Tomé and CEMAC (Economic Community of Central African States – Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea). These are lists of…

Is our new textile rebate a harbinger of things to come?

We do not do a single piece of work in the clothing and textile industry, but I can’t seem to let this new rebate go. When I wrote my last blog on this, the guidelines and…

New tariff code created for Covid vaccine

SARS have created a new tariff code specifically for the Covid-19 vaccine (tariff code 3002.20.11), with effect from 12 February 2021. Although it came too late to catch the very first vaccine imports, all future Covid-19…

Duties reduced on wheat and flour

The duties on wheat have dropped 54.42c per kg to 10.27c per kg and flour from 81.63c per kg to 15.41c per kg. The only region this does not apply to is SADC (and of course…

ITAC investigating a rebate of duty on flat steel products

Please pay attention to this notice if you are in the downstream steel sector! ArcelorMittal South Africa (AMSA), the only local producer of primary steel, has struggled to meet local demand for a wide variety of…

Rebate of duty on tinplate

There is no domestic production of tin plate in SACU. This is not a contentious issue, yet rather than removing the duties when ArcelorMittal shut down their tinplate line, ITAC instead opted to create a temporary…

A new, complicated, (sigh) rebate for the textile industry

Complexity is the enemy of investment, and the bedfellow of skulduggery. I promise to explain this clearly, so don’t give up halfway through the italics text below. A rebate has been created for “Textile yarns and…

Duty increase request on dump trucks

Bell Equipment Company applied for a duty increase on “Dumpers designed for off-highway use: Other”, imported under tariff subheading 8704.10.90. The reasons provided for the request are: The general economic decline and uncertainties that exist in…

Covid vaccine can be imported without paying VAT

Rebate item 412.11 (the rebate which allowed duty and VAT free imports of PPE a few months ago) has been reactivated to allow the various varieties of the Covid vaccine to enter South Africa without attracting…

Implementation of Amendments to the Customs Act

On 20 January 2021 amendments to the Customs and Excise Act were published in the following Acts Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Act 22 of 2020 Taxation Laws Amendment Act 23 of…

Duty increase application on peanut butter and roasted peanuts

RCL Foods applied for a duty increase on peanut butter, imported under tariff subheading 2008.11.1, from R0.99 per kg (effectively around 3.5%) to 25%. The bulk of these imports come from India (4 163 tons in…