Customs Modernisation

Dear Trader/Agent

GO-LIVE OF RELEASE 3 AT OSHOEK AND LEBOMBO

1. The rollout of Release 3 will commence at 13:00 on Saturday 26 May 2012, with the system down until approximately 15:00. Trade can start submitting via EDI from 14:00 using the new BGM code for Oshoek and Lebombo.

2. All declarations for Oshoek and Lebombo should be submitted by 09:00 on Saturday 26 May 2012. All trucks destined for Oshoek and Lebombo with consignments that have already been processed under the current system should arrive before 12:00 (noon) on Saturday.

Please note: During this period, declarations for emergency products, or perishable cargo, must be submitted as early as possible as all cargo processing closes at 13:00 on Saturday at Oshoek and Lebombo. If it is an emergency, you can put an estimate weight on the declaration and correct it with a Voucher of Correction (VOC) before 8am on Sunday.

3. All declarations that are submitted after 09:00 on Saturday and do not receive a result message within one hour, must be manually taken to the branch front-end on Saturday morning before 12:00 if entry is urgent or of high priority. However, the entire implementation of the new system should take place within a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon and trade should be ready to submit supporting documents from 15:00 onwards.

4. All other SACU border posts will continue to operate as normal over the weekend.

5. Deferment accounts:

• Foreign Traders who currently have deferment facilities on the CCA system at Oshoek will not be permitted to retain such facilities after the roll-out on 26 May 2012. Their current deferment account will be closed on 26 May 2012 and account holders will be expected to settle such accounts within seven days of the date of the final statement.

• All other CCA deferment account holders at Oshoek will also receive a final statement for transactions up to and including 26 May 2012. These statements must also be settled within seven days from the date of the statement.

• Deferment accounts for South African Registered traders at Oshoek will be re-created on the

CAPE Import system. These accounts will be registered in accordance with the client’s original
accounting details including the start, end and settlement dates previously assigned to the client.

6. A team of registration specialists will be on site at Oshoek and Lebombo until Tuesday 29 May to help with trader/agent registration.

7. Traders/agents who do business at Oshoek or Lebombo are also asked to take note:

• A dedicated email address has been created for queries at Oshoek – it is cargooshoek@sars.gov.za. Traders/agents are asked to please mail this address before sending their trucks to the border post, to check if the office is ready to receive them. You should get a response within 15 minutes. If not, you should mail Bheki Sibiya on bsibiya@sars.gov.za. If you still do not have a response 15 minutes later, then escalate it to the Regional Customs Executive, Leon Potgieter on lpotgieter4@sars.gov.za

• When arriving at these two border posts, the truck driver must present the manifest containing all the consignments(LRNs) conveyed on the vehicle at the entrance gate

• With all back-office processing now taking place in four centralised Hubs – and no longer at the border post – manual processing is expected to take much longer and ALL traders/agents doing business at the Oshoek and Lebombo border post are encouraged to register for EDI as soon as possible.

• Cash payments can be made at the border post, but it must be noted that the truck will not be allowed entry into the Customs Controlled area until the processing is completed and a “Proceed to border” message is received by the declarant – for manual clients either via email or in person and for EDI clients, via their system. The trader therefore has to make sure that the branch has successfully received the payment and verified it against the declaration to allow release of the “Proceed to Port” message.

8. The new Passenger Processing System rollout at Ramatlabama is expected to commence at 13:00 on Saturday and go live at about 16:00 or 17:00. However, the port will not close down during this period and travellers will still be processed under the old system and process. Traders/agents are asked to take note that once the new system goes live on Saturday afternoon, all travellers will be expected to complete a new Traveller Card when arriving in South Africa. This Traveller Card will then serve as their gate pass. If your truck drivers have anything to declare of if they travel through this port on a regular basis, they need to take the Traveller Card to the Customs office where it will be scanned and they will make a verbal declaration. If they are deemed to be frequent travellers, this will be entered into the system and a traveller declaration form (called a TRD1) will be printed out. They can then use this as their gate pass and need not complete a new Traveller Card every time they travel through the port. However, Customs still has the right to search them or revoke the use of their TRD1 at any time.

9. Traders/agents are reminded that they should now send manifests electronically at all ports that have already implemented Release 3 – including Lebombo and Oshoek from this weekend. Those who are already submitting road manifests via SARS’s ACM system are asked to take note that they are to keep all manifest numbers unique for a period of two years. This applies across Import and Export manifests, as well as across all branches. In other words, if you ever use a manifest number in any context, you should NEVER use it again. If there are any system issues during go-live, please contact your Bureaus first as they have existing escalation channels with SARS. However, if there are any operational issues that need to be dealt with urgently, we have made available on the Customs Modernisation website (www.sars.gov.za> Customs & Excise > Customs and Border Management > Customs Modernisation) a specific escalation process to be followed during and after the implementation period. These details are available in English and will only be applicable until 1 July 2012.

BEYERS THERON
EXECUTIVE: CUSTOMS MODERNISATION