The amendment of tariff determinations

The classification of any goods
under any tariff subheading
in Part 1 of Schedule No. 1
to the Customs and Excise
Act 91 of 1964 is subject to
the Explanatory Notes to the
Harmonised System.
The Commissioner for the
South African Revenue Service
may in writing determine the
tariff subheadings for goods.
Any determination made by the
Commissioner is only applicable
to the goods mentioned therein
and the person in whose name it
is issued.
The Commissioner also
has the right to amend or
withdraw any determination
and make a new determination.
In most instances the previous
determination shall cease to be
in force from the date of the
amendment or of the withdrawal
thereof.
Since the determinations made
by the Commissioner apply only
to the person in whose name they
are issued, these determinations
are not made available for
public scrutiny. Although these
determinations only apply to the
person in whose name they are
issued, it is common practice
for the Commissioner’s office
and district offices to use these
determinations as guidelines in
the classification of similar or
identical goods imported by
other persons.
What would happen though if
the Commissioner’s office, for
whatever reason, changed their
viewpoint on the classification of
a particular commodity?
All determinations issued
on new applications for a tariff
determination would reflect the
“amended” tariff subheading.
However, if the clearing and
forwarding industry is not
made aware of the “amended”
viewpoint of the Commissioner’s
office, they would naturally
continue clearing the goods
under the tariff subheading which
was previously considered to be
correct by the Commissioner’s
office. This would especially
be the case in instances where
clearing and forwarding agents
are aware of tariff determinations
issued to certain clients for a
particular class of goods and
base clearances for other clients,
importing identical goods, on
these determinations. We are
aware of cases where the district
offices are not even aware that
certain determinations have
been amended.
This gives rise to the question
of liability, if any, by any person
clearing goods under a tariff
subheading that was previously
considered to be correct but has
subsequently been “amended” by
the Commissioner’s office in a
non transparent manner.
We invite any parties who
find themselves in this situation
to contact Customs @ Wylie for
further advice and assistance in
this regard.