On 22 November 2021, the South African Revenue Service’s (SARS) Accreditation & Licensing, Licensing & Registration Office, announced that the expiry date indicated on confirmation of registration on the Registration, Licensing and Accreditation (RLA) system was no longer applicable.
A letter to stakeholders titled “RLA expiry date indicated on confirmation of registration on RLA system no longer applicable” reads:
When the Registration, Licensing and Accreditation (RLA) system was implemented in 2020, certain Customs client types were issued with an expiry date on approval of their registration applications (for example, importers were given an expiry date of 10 years).
This expiry date will now be removed from the system.
The reason for the removal of the date is because rule 59A.07(2) (a) determines that –
“(a) Any registration shall be valid until –
(i) the registrant informs the Commissioner in terms of rule 59A.05(1)(a)(vi) that the registrant –
(aa) no longer carries on the activity for which the registration was issued; or
(bb) has been inactive in relation to the activity for which that person was registered for a continuous period of three years and wishes to have the registration withdrawn; or
(ii) the Commissioner cancels the registration as contemplated in section 59A(2)(b) read with paragraph (c) of that subsection.”
Further, note that a new notification indicating the removal of the expiry date will not be issued. However, if you make an amendment to your affected client type, the new approval notification will indicate the removal of the expiry date.