The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has postponed the introduction of mandatory advance reporting of containerised cargo destined for South African ports to November 1, from the previously set implementation date of August 1.

“A Sars survey found that while certain categories, such as carriers, are quite advanced in their state of readiness, others including freight forwarders and facility-based reporters such as terminal/transit shed operators and depot licensees are significantly behind and will not be able to meet the August deadline,” Sars Customs and Excise acting chief officer Beyers Theron said in a statement. 

According to South Africa Association of Freight Forwarders (SAAFF) consultant Johan Marais, South Africa will follow international trends with this development, which requires carriers and forwarders to submit advance loading notices to Sars Customs at master and house bill of lading levels, 24 hours prior to vessel departure. 

“Implementation of electronic reporting will do away with the archaic and laborious manually driven paper systems – known as ships papers in the past – providing new efficiencies. Many carriers spend hundreds of thousands of rands a year on paper and administrative costs alone associated with submitting paper manifests to Sars offices,” he said. 

SAAFF director Juanita Maree noted that the development falls under Customs’ Reporting of Conveyances and Goods (RCG) project, which is one of three main pillars of Sars’ New Customs Acts Programme.

RCG is part of the World Customs Organisation that aims to adopt the SAFE Framework of Standards to Secure and Facilitate Global Trade to act as a deterrent to illicit trade, secure revenue collections and promote trade facilitation worldwide.

“Those impacted include shipping lines, airlines, the national rail carrier, road hauliers, freight forwarders, port and airport authorities, terminal operators, wharf operators, transit shed operators, licensees of depots and registered agents,” she said.