Riaan de Lange

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Riaan de Lange

This economic and trade-focused column is prepared by Riaan de Lange – riaan@tariffandtrade.co.za. The views expressed in this column are the author's personal views

Tough going

15th November 2024 "When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” as Billy Ocean reminds us in his 1986 hit. But, as we listen to those words, one can’t help but wonder: Tough for whom? Is it for you, for me, for all of us – or perhaps for the South African Revenue Service (Sars)? In Sars' media release of... →

HS modernisation step

8th November 2024 The World Customs Organisation (WCO) on October 29 announced the release of its 95-page ‘Final Report of the Exploratory Study on the Possible Strategic Review of the Harmonised System (HS)’. The announcement came 285 days after the publication of the public version of the WCO’s ‘Interim Report... →

Consultant-free trade

1st November 2024 Do you import goods into the Southern African Customs Union (Sacu)? Do you manufacture goods in the Sacu region? Additionally, do you import components into this region which you use in the manufacture of goods? Finally, do you pay customs duties on the importation of the components that you use... →

CO2, GH2, GHG, H2, LH2, NH3

25th October 2024 Do these acronyms – chemical symbols, to be precise – mean anything to you? I apologise for unearthing any long-buried horrors from your school science days. While you ponder your mark out of a maximum score of six, I would like to offer you a brief distraction – or rather, a reprieve. Here are... →

Registration, licensing and accreditation

18th October 2024 The South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced on October 7 that it had added new online self-service features for Registration, Licensing and Accreditation (RLA) under the Sars Online Query System (SOQS), its 'digital channels', which aim to "make things a lot easier for our customs... →

Women exporters’ fund

11th October 2024 On September 11, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the International Trade Centre (ITC) announced the commencement of the implementation of a fund for women exporters by welcoming its first grant. This follows on the fund’s launch on February 25 this year, at the WTO’s thirteenth Ministerial... →

TRIMs, TRIPs and now TrPMs

4th October 2024 If you are a World Trade Organisation (WTO groupie, you would undoubtedly be familiar with TRIMs and TRIPS. If the acronyms are alien, or you require a quick refresher, TRIMs stands for Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures and TRIPS for WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of... →

Customs offences and more

27th September 2024 The South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced on August 22 that its Contravention List published on August 13 had been withdrawn and that, as a result, the previous list remains in effect. Therefore, any person who contravenes or fails to comply with any provisions of the Customs and Excise... →

Technical tariff amendments

13th September 2024 What is a technical tariff amendment? On August 22, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced that its Tariff Amendments Landing Page had been updated to expand the note section below the heading 'Technical Tariff Amendments'. Before getting to the update, which does not answer the... →

Export-oriented déjà vu plan

6th September 2024 It is said that there is ‘old news’, ‘yesterday’s news’, and ‘new news’. But why can there not be ‘no news’ as well? By ‘no news’ I mean information that simply is not, could not, and should not ever be considered as news. The headline ‘Manufacturing-led, export-oriented strategy will grow... →

Australia’s nuisance tariffs

30th August 2024 I vividly recall a time when the radio held proud place – front and centre – on the dining room table. It was also a time when radio pledges were the order of the day. Pledgers were given the opportunity to challenge others to match their pledge, but it was preferable that they be more generous.... →

e-Imports tax free no more

23rd August 2024 "All good things must come to an end, but all bad things can continue forever." This is according to the 'King of Horror', American author Stephen King. Whether 'a good thing' has indeed come to an end would depend on your personal interests. This would also depend on whether you are reading this... →

Out, damned spot

16th August 2024 Macbeth: Act 2, Scene 2: Lady Macbeth comes to share Macbeth’s horrified sense of being stained, exclaiming: “Out, damned spot; out, I say...” The word ‘spot’ derives from the Middle Dutch word spotte, meaning to notice or recognise. What have you spotted, or rather spied? “I spy”, first... →

Some recollections may vary

9th August 2024 If you need a reminder, the headline is borrowed from the late Queen of the UK and other Commonwealth realms. If you take offence at ‘borrowed’, consider that the British have borrowed a lot from South Africa and, in many cases, are still borrowing things, or is it they have been gifted? Potato,... →

Port limits extension input

2nd August 2024 In a notice published in the Government Gazette on July 12, the Department of Transport invited maritime stakeholders, the general public and affected communities to submit written representations on the ‘Draft Framework on the Proclamation to Review, Vary or Extend the Boundaries of an Existing... →

A solar eclipse

26th July 2024 Quite fittingly, once the comment period for an International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) tariff application published in the Government Gazette for public comment has closed, it results in an eclipse – a complete information eclipse. The eclipse partially lifts when... →

It’s fee trade, not free trade

19th July 2024 Have you ever wondered how much it costs the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) to process a ‘duly completed application’ for an import and export permit, a rebate or a drawback permit or certificate, a production rebate certificate or equivalent certificate... →

ICC Genesis

12th July 2024 First things first: ICC stands for ‘International Chamber of Commerce’, the biggest and most representative business organisation in the world, with more than 45-million members in more than 100 countries. Its members’ interests span every sector of private enterprise. Meanwhile, 'genesis' refers... →

Published tariff determinations

5th July 2024 Whether you are an importer or exporter, or a local manufacturer, have you ever pondered how one, or maybe even a few, of your competitors have been more competitive than you when their goods have been subject to customs duties, including excise duties? You might well have questioned the tariff... →

Daylight fading

28th June 2024 →

Palm oil

21st June 2024 The headline should not be confused with the slang that abbreviates the phrase “oil someone’s palm”, which means to derive a favourable outcome based on providing a monetary incentive; in other words, a bribe. Palm oil is everywhere – in everything we consume – and, as of May 24, it is the... →

Drumming up protection

14th June 2024 I do appreciate that the Government Gazette is not the favoured reading material for many, and its detractors might equate reading it to reading a telephone directory, which someone actually did. When asked about their experience, they said: “There were characters aplenty, but not much of a... →

The R1 crude refinery

7th June 2024 A token sum, also known as peppercorn, is a symbolic but important part of a contract showing that ‘some consideration’ has been paid. The amount is not important, as long as it shows that something has been handed over in payment. Elsewhere in the world, peppercorn is also used when one party in... →

Fiscal transparency scorecard

31st May 2024 On May 8, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its High-Level Summary Technical Assistance Report on South Africa’s Fiscal Transparency Evaluation (FTE) in response to the National Treasury’s request when an IMF team visited South Africa from July 11 to 25, 2023. The FTE, the IMF’s... →

Don’t’ be . . .

24th May 2024 In my piece last week, titled ‘Numbing dumping’, you were offered recipes for ‘A Good, Easy Garlic Chicken’ and French fries. The relevance of the recipes was that antidumping duties have been imposed on three agricultural products: frozen chicken meat, garlic (both fresh and dried) and French... →

Numbing dumping

17th May 2024 Do you by any chance have a recipe for ‘A Good, Easy Garlic Chicken’ and one for French fries? According to www.allrecipes.com, you simply sprinkle the chicken with garlic powder, onion powder and seasoning. They profess that it is a great recipe for a quick and easy meal, even for the pickiest... →

Intellectual Property Day

10th May 2024 What were you doing on April 26? Anything nice? Anything memorable? This is the day that is observed yearly as World Intellectual Property Day. It was on this day in 1970 that the convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) entered into force. The WIPO convention... →

Calling a spade

3rd May 2024 An alternative headline I had for this week's instalment of this column was ‘Wing it’ but I decided against it, as I am perilously close to exceeding my yearly quota on that topic. What choice, and why the choice, you might wonder. The response to the last question first – well, blame it on the... →

The Marrakesh pearl

26th April 2024 Where were you 30 years ago, on Friday, April 15, 1994? By the way, if you have been holding on to your old 1994 calendar, you will be able to reuse it in 2033. This is based on the assumption that you are not interested in the dates for Easter and other irregular holidays. Unless it was your... →

Manufacturing support

19th April 2024 The Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition (dtic) on April 4 released an information notice extending an invitation to submit a substantiated application for its Manufacturing Support Programme (MSP). According to the dtic, applicants are welcome to contact it directly so that its... →

Get CBAM ready

12th April 2024 →

Reflections on the next HS

5th April 2024 Of the three cornerstones in the movement of goods – be they in their final, semi-processed or component forms – across a national border, which is the one for which you need to have access to information any time, day or night, Sundays and holidays included? To answer this question, you need to... →

Nuisance tariffs

29th March 2024 A nuisance is a minor inconvenience, an annoyance or, quite simply, a bother. A tariff, in the context of this column, is a rate of customs duty. So, what does a nuisance tariff? For this, one would need to consult the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for the definition, which reads: “[This is a]... →

Eat, sleep, fish – repeat

22nd March 2024 What does ‘go fish’ mean to you? Could it be your laconic reply to a question where your full answer might well have been: “No, I do not have it, keep guessing, but leave me alone”?" Or does it remind you of the children's card game in which players attempt to collect playing cards with... →

Bach, Bach, Bach!

15th March 2024 It has been a full 147 days since I last wrote about Gallus Domesticus. But then, who is counting? For context, or a refresher, you might want to reread two past instalments of this column. The first, titled ‘Egg-spectations’, was published on October 20, 2023, and the second, titled ‘Fowl play’,... →

Excise duty hikes a given

8th March 2024 How many fingers do you have? A hint, when pointing your finger at someone else, you have three pointing back at you, as the adage goes. Want to reconsider your answer once you have finished staring at your hand? What about the thumb, could it be that, as it is pointing to the sky, it is not... →

Paltry graft loot recovery

1st March 2024 Corruption is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “illegal, bad or dishonest behaviour, especially by people in positions of power”. Wikipedia describes it as “a form of dishonesty or a criminal offence which is undertaken by a person or an organisation which is entrusted in a position of... →

And the actual?

23rd February 2024 ‘Actual’ means to exist in fact – in other words, to be real. There are not many occasions, during the course of the year, when I despair at having to write a piece for this column. The State of the Nation Address (SoNA) is my only actual annual despair. Why are not all the figures in the SoNA... →

You’ll be back?

16th February 2024 This is is not a guarantee that The Terminator, aka Arnold Schwarzenegger, will be back. You might recall that “I'll be back” is a catchphrase associated with Mr S (I’m cognisant of my character count limit), which was made famous in the 1984 film The Terminator. Surprisingly, Schwarzenegger’s... →

HS exploratory study

9th February 2024 The World Customs Organisation (WCO) on January 18, announced the publication of the public version of its ‘Interim Report on the Exploratory Study on a Possible Strategic Review of the Harmonised System (HS)’, as well as its Presentation, ‘An Introductory to the Exploratory Study on the Possible... →

Transfer pricing adjustments

2nd February 2024 On January 19, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) released its proposed draft amendments to the rules of the Customs and Excise Act, 1964, which take into account the effects of transfer pricing adjustments on customs valuation. Comment on the draft amendments is due by February 9 and must... →

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