In the spirit of Transport Month, I pen this piece to raise awareness of proactive compliance among all traders who transact internationally.
It is imperative that importers and exporters proactively manifest compliance by facilitating risk management within their supply chains at the earliest possible stage ie, inventory forecasting, preceding the purchase order milestone well in advance.
As far as possible, where the locus of control exists, advance planning is essential to ensure that the regulatory requirements of both the country of export and country of import are adhered to, and where constraints or anomalies are identified, to address these via the respective stakeholder channels which, in most cases, are the organised bodies to which the relevant trader’s business is affiliated.
It is also essential that clearly defined guidelines and standardised operational procedures are shared by the relevant government department to facilitate and foster a seamless process congruent with proactive compliance. To effectively ensure compliance, it’s important not only to meet regulatory requirements but also to submit necessary documents in advance. This is essential because processing times can vary, and it’s wise to budget for potential backlogs, especially given the high volume of international trade compared to available resources.
The average transit times across modalities, while dependent on the port of load and port of discharge, limit or constrain the ability of the trader to attempt the correction of non-compliance. The legislation across the various regulatory authorities makes it clear that no cargo should manifest itself ie, loaded on board a vehicle, ship or aircraft, unless the specific provisions have been duly complied with. Statutory applications submitted after the departure of the cargo inevitably end in an escalation due to non-compliance; instead, traders should ensure compliance at the purchase order stage (pre-manifesting compliance). We can all play a role to contribute positively to economic prosperity for our country through proactive compliance. It is therefore recommended that traders study the regulations pertinent to their commodity, engage their respective associations to confirm the latest procedures and processes in respect of the regulatory requirements, and ensure compliance therewith.
One will also appreciate that emergency situations do arise. This is the very nature of supply chains. These instances are naturally beyond the locus of control; therefore, exceptions exist. What makes exceptions easier to manage is the norm in a demonstrated history of proactive compliance. In addition to the regulatory requirements of other government departments, the regulatory requirements of customs administrations in cargo reporting and transactional declarations, in both the country of export and import, are critical to supply chain risk management in safety, security and compliance. The prescripts of customs valuation, origin and classification, as well as the latest compliance requirements and, more especially, the accuracy thereof eg, the correct understanding and application of Incoterm(s), are non-negotiable; in fact, it is unequivocally a mirrored imperative to the other regulatory, statutory and legislative requirements.
There are well over 128 external customs and excise manuals, policies with various accompanying annexures, legal published guidelines, Government Gazette notices, other government department standard operating procedures, submission guidelines, and approximately 21 primary legislative Acts that regulate and prescribe the requirements to be complied with in respect of imports and exports. It is essential that all traders understand and are aware of the regulatory requirements associated with their specific product, data and financial flow associated with their typical import and export movement. There are various role-players in the supply chain, primarily the entities who are trading, ie, the actual importer and exporter as well as the regulatory authorities that control, monitor and evaluate the data flow, secondly, the logistics service providers at origin and destination, and at a tertiary level, the end consumer. Knowledge is power, power is choice, choice is being proactive; be compliant and avoid incurring unnecessary costs, delays and inefficiencies in your supply chain. I wish all traders compliance in their transactions across their product, finance and data flows. In conclusion, in the words of Daniel H Pink, “Control leads to compliance; autonomy leads to engagement”, and a quick link Find a Publication | South African Revenue Service (sars.gov.za)
