Online help desk a gold mine of information on exports to the EU

31st October 2014

By: Riaan de Lange

  

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The 28-member European Union (EU) is the world’s largest single market, accounting for around 500-million consumers and over 16% of the world’s merchandise trade. It is also by far the most important trading partner for developing countries, including South Africa.

The EU is South Africa’s largest trading partner, accounting for 25.57% of its merchandise trade in 2013. South Africa’s exports to the EU increased by 14.76% to R165.44-billion in 2013, up from R144.15-billion in 2012. The EU and South Africa are contracting parties of the Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA), which came into force on January 1, 2000, and is due to be replaced by the Southern African Development Community Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), which was concluded on July 15.

If you are not already taking advantage of the EU export preferences on offer under the free-trade agreement (FTA) of the TDCA, how can you gain access to the EU?

If you have access to the Internet, you will be able to access the EU export help desk, the European Commission’s online one-stop shop, which provides information on how to export to the EU, the EU tariffs, requirements, preferential arrangements, quotas and statistics affecting business in developing countries. The help desk is found at www.exporthelp.europa.eu.

The EU export help desk is a source of information on the compulsory information a business needs for its product to access the EU market and a database on trade in goods. It is freely accessible and available in four languages, namely English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. The export help desk is not an information line or call centre, a matchmaking platform, a source of financial assistance, a source of information for services or investment and a trade or market analysis tool.

The EU export help desk website is divided into five sections: My Export, Requirements, Tariffs; Statistics and Preferential Arrangements.

The My Export section allows you to understand how the EU trade system is organised, the procedures to follow and the documents to fill in. It provides for the EU product classification system, EU import procedures, documents for customs clearance, the EU customs union, value- added tax (Vat) and excise duties. You simply need to enter a ten-digit product code and select a country of origin, a destination country and a simulation date.

The Requirements section allows you to understanding the EU market, the sanitary and phytosanitary requirements (to protect human and animal health, the environmental requirements (to protect consumers and the environment), the technical requirements (to protect consumers), marketing standards (concerning quality) and import restrictions. This section also provides the ‘tips and tricks’ regarding EU requirements.

The Tariffs section allows you to find binding tariff information, general information, application forms, a list of customs authorities, the EU customs inventory of chemical substances, information on duty relief and suspensions, quotas (preferential, autonomous, management and antidumping). The section also offers and provides ‘tips and tricks’ on EU tariffs.

The Statistics section allows users to determine the EU merchandise trade flows inside and outside the EU. It provides information on trade flows between any country and the EU since 2002, and users are able to transfer the trade statistics in an Excel format.

The Preferential Arrangements section features the rules of origin, the Generalised Scheme of Preferences EPAs and FTAs.

So, how can the EU export help desk assist your business in ten easy steps? 1) Go to the export helpdesk (www.exporthelp.europa.eu). 2) Click on ‘My export’. 3) Type in the product that you want to export by filling in the electronic input form. 4) Click on ‘Search’. 5) In the Requirements tab, you will find the list of compulsory EU import requirements applicable to your product. 6) By clicking on each requirement, you will access an explanation on legislation, documents needed, the contact address of the competent authority in the EU and further information, such as examples, guidelines, and so on. 7) You will also find the Vat, excise duties and other taxes applicable to your product in the selected EU destination country. 8) In the ‘Tariffs’ tab, you will find the import (customs) tariff applicable to your product/country. 9) If quotas or antidumping measures apply to your product/country, they will appear in the third row. Click on them to see the applied quota. 10) If you benefit from a preferential tariff, there will be one tab per preferential arrangement.

Now that you know of the existence of the EU export help desk, created in 2004, you should make use of this invaluable online resource.

Customs Control Act Rules
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) released the ‘third batch’ of draft rules of the Customs Control Act No 31 of 2014, assented to on July 21, for comment by November 14.

The draft rules pertain to chapters 21 (confidentiality), 23 (disclosures in terms of international agreements), 24 (requests for information), 25 (rules to facilitate implementation of this chapter), 26 (offences in terms of this chapter), 27 (purpose of this chapter), 28 (customs control of goods), 29 (customs control of persons), 30 (foreign-going vessels and aircraft passing through South Africa without calling or landing) and 31 (designation of places of entry and exit).

Tax Administration Laws Bill
On October 17, Sars published the Explanatory Summary of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill, 2014, and informed of Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s intention to introduce the Bill in Parliament on October 22, when he was due to present the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement.

Stainless-Steel Sinks Dumping
The International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa has initiated a sunset review investigation of the antidumping duties on stainless-steel sinks, classifiable under tariff subheading 7324.10, originating in or imported from the People’s Republic of China and Malaysia. The application, essentially for the extension of the antidumping duty, was lodged by Franke Kitchen Systems. Comment was due by October 27.

2015 Trade and Investment Missions
The Department of Trade and Industry has extended an invitation to interested parties to participate in the trade and investment missions to India, scheduled for February 23 to 27, and to Kenya and Tanzania, from February 16 to 20.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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