'Drastic change' hits goods stored in bonded warehouses

Alan Peat
THE OPERATORS of bonded warehouses (and those with goods stored in them) had better beware of a "drastic change" to the Customs & Excise Act of 1964, according to Quintus van der Merwe, of the international transport and trade division at attorneys, Shepstone & Wylie.
If they don't get the conditions of the new amendment sorted out by October 31, a lot of people could find themselves getting slapped with demands for large amounts of duty and VAT.
"Section 19 of the Act now states that no goods may be stored in a bonded customs warehouse for a period of more than two years - as of the end of July this year," Van der Merwe told FTW.
This supersedes the previous 5-year period allowed by customs before "good cause" had to be shown to the Commissioner to get an extension.
But there's another sneaky little condition that might be set to trip the unwary.
Said Van de Merwe: "Goods that have already been stored in a customs warehouse for a period longer than two years must be entered for home consumption (or re-exported) within 3 months. That gives you until October 31 - unless the Commissioner grants an extension."
These new provisions will cause "no small amount" of inconvenience to warehouse operators, S&W's Stewart Munro added, "particularly those warehouses storing ships stores which are generally used irregularly but which suppliers have to have in stock at any one time."
Munro highlights another, as yet untested, provision in the amendment.
"It is difficult to predict at this stage what exactly the Commissioner will consider to be reasonable," he told FTW. "But one would hope that he will be flexible in this regard, in light of such a drastic change in the legislation.
"It's essentially so that customs can control things better. Before, a lot
of things went from warehouse
to warehouse to warehouse - and, after five years, they'd just disappeared," said SAAFF executive director
Ed Little.