During the festive season, the European Union (EU) announced that its Generalised System of Preference (GSP) preferences granted to South Africa under Regulation (EC) No 732/2008 would cease to apply on December 31. In line with the Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA) standstill clause, the applied rates of customs duty will not increase. All preferential tariff treatments (preferential rates of customs duty) will subsequently be granted under the TDCA between the EU and South Africa.

According to the EU, for those products that, consequently, will need to switch from GSP preferences to TDCA preferences (because they used to enjoy a more favourable tariff preference under the GSP than under the TDCA), the following guidance is applicable.

The date of acceptance of the customs declaration for release for the free circulation of the goods by the customs authorities of the EU member State of importation, determines whether a particular import will be treated under the ‘old’ GSP preferences or under the new system of preferences (TDCA preferences). There are two scenarios: if the relevant customs declaration is accepted on or before December 31, 2013, the so-called ‘old’ GSP preferences will apply to the consignment; however, if the declaration is accepted on or after January 1, 2014, the new preferences (TDCA preferences) will apply.

The EU articulated two scenarios. Under the first scenario, the required proof of origin will be a certificate of origin, known as Form A1 and issued in compliance with the applicable rules of origin. Under the second scenario, the required proof of origin will be a movement certificate, known as the EUR.1 and issued in compliance with the rules of origin set out in Protocol I of the TDCA, which means that the product will have to comply with the rules of origin set out in that Protocol – these may not be the same as the GSP rules of origin. For shipments that went before December 31, 2013, and accompanied by a Form A certificate of origin but arrive after the December 31, 2013, the exporter in South Africa may apply to the customs authorities for the retrospective issuing of the EUR.1 in accordance with Article 16 of Protocol I of the TDCA. South African customs authorities may issue a EUR.1 certificate retrospectively after verification that Article 16 has been complied with and provided that the goods have originating status in accordance with the TDCA rules of origin.

Trade Negotiations Training Modules
The Department for International Development- (DFID-) funded TradeMark Southern Africa (TMSA) programme recently published a new series of trade negotiation training modules. The modules are designed to build the capacity of the relevant stakeholders involved in trade negotiations and complement the tripartite market integration initiative involving the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community. The modules are freely available on the TMSA website.
The training modules cover the following topics: rules of origin, antidumping and injury margin calculation methods, safeguards, subsidies and countervailing measures, dispute settlement mechanisms for trade agreements, drafting trade agreements and tariff liberalisation.

The modules are available in English, French and Portuguese and can be downloaded free of charge from the TMSA website.

Certificate for Specialists in Demand Guarantees
On January 13, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) informed that demand guarantee specialists will be able to register for a new Level 4 qualification specifically designed to enhance and validate their professional skills. Professionals with three years’ relevant work experience will have from January 13 to March 31 to register for the Institute of Financial Services- (IFS-) ICC qualification, with the first set of examinations taking place in June.

The certificate for specialists in demand guarantees (CSDG) will be delivered and examined by the IFS in partnership with the ICC.

To ensure that it remains relevant in a fast-changing sector, the CSDG has been designed by, and had input from, several leading industry experts, including Roy Goode and Georges Affaki, as authors of the study materials, and Andrea Hauptmann, chairperson of the ICC task force on guarantees and senior director and head of guarantees at Raiffeisen Bank International, as chief examiner.

The CSDG qualification will provide thorough grounding in all the main features of a demand guarantee, including industry rules, standards and guidelines that govern guarantees and standby letters of credit, the processes and challenges involved in demand guarantee transactions and the roles and obli- gations of the parties involved and the relationships between them. Its purpose is to enable those engaged in raising and amending demand guarantees, including – though not exclusively – guarantees issued subject to ICC Uniform Rules For Demand Guarantees.

WTO Notification
On December 11, 2013, the committee on technical barriers of the World Trade Organisation announced of South Africa’s intention to regulate control over the sale of poultry meat. The purpose of the amendment to the existing regulations is to provide for the injection (treatment) of poultry with brine mixtures, to set the levels of injection, and to provide for labelling and consumer information. It needs to be imposed by no later than March 2, 2015.