Non-Tariff Barriers

Complaint

Complaint number

NTB-000-595  

NTB Type

2.13. Issues related to Pre-Shipment Inspections  

Complaint

Exporter's containers (in transit to USA) are stopped by South African Revenue Services (SARS) at Ficksburg border post, South Africa and consignments are checked exclusively notwithstanding the fact that they are being checked by the Lesotho Revenue Authority (LRA) before they are dispatched. SARS requires certificate of origin before they can process Electronic Data Interchange and that goods be off-loaded from the containers and then re-loaded and this requires extra manpower thereby adding on the cost of manufacturing. Moreover, exporters have to pay standing charges for transporters as they have to stay overnight at the border as the process takes about 6-12 hours and this impacts negatively on many other shipping processes. The process also causes goods to reach their destinations after the agreed timeframe and as a result exporters fail to meet their customers' requirements.
The incident has happened on more than one occassion.  

Status note

On 25 March 2015, Lesotho Focal Point reported that the NTB had been resolved and therefore must be removed from the pending cases.  

Progress update note

1. On 20th November 2013, Lesotho Focal pPnt reported that they were still expecting a progress reported from the South African Counterparts.

2. On 20 June 2013, Lesotho reported that the consignment checks were done on specific dates (given) between February and June 2013.South AFrica Focal Point reported that the matter had been reffered to the relevant NMC Member for their attention and would revert back with necessary responses as soon as possible.  

Policy or regulatory NTB

No 

Location

South Africa: Ficksburg Bridge (Border post)  

Reporting Country or Region

Lesotho  

Country specific trade issue

No  

Date of incident

2013-06-10  

Status

Resolved  

Date of resolution

2015-03-25  

Product Description

All products

Computer-assisted translation

• English
• Arabic
• French
• Portuguese

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Total value

0  

Date reported

2013-06-19 08:26  

Modified

2015-03-25 15:33