On 04 October 2019, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced an amendment of the Rule to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 relating to the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Unique Consignment Reference (UCR) number (DAR188).
Amendment of Rule 38.14A to the Act, 1964:
Rule 38.14A of the Rules to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964 (Act No. 91 of 1964), is hereby amended – (a) by the insertion in paragraph (a), after the definition of “declarant”, of the following definition: “participating country” means a country participating in the SACU UCR implementation, namely Eswatini or Botswana, as the case may be;”; and
(b) by the substitution for paragraph (b) of the following paragraph:
“(b) When completing a bill of entry, a declarant must, in the case of –
(i) an export from the Republic, generate and use a SACU UCR for the relevant consignment irrespective of the country of destination;
(ii) an import into the Republic from [Swaziland] a participating country, use the SACU UCR generated in [Swaziland] that participating country for that consignment; or
(iii) the transit of goods through the Republic to [Swaziland] a participating country –
(aa) generate and use a SACU UCR for that consignment; or
(bb) if a UCR has already been generated in any [other] country other than a participating country for that consignment, use that UCR; or
(iv) the transit of goods [from Swaziland] via a participating country through the Republic – (aa) use the SACU UCR generated in [Swaziland] that participating country for that consignment; or
(bb) if a UCR has already been generated in any [other] country other than a participating country for that consignment, use that UCR.”.
Story by: Riaan de Lange