The SA Revenue Service (SARS) has introduced a new digital customs management system at border posts.
Finance minister Pravin Gordhan said yesterday this entailed the conversion of about 26 older legacy and paper-based systems into a fully automated and centralised processing system for all commercial trade across SA's borders. This would effectively help trade by reducing the red tape.
According to a 2010 study by the World Bank, inefficient customs procedures at border posts, which raise the cost of moving goods, is one of the key barriers to greater regional integration. "The need to capture and verify large quantities of data at border posts and poor border post infrastructure give rise to costly delays for business," said Gordhan.
Gordhan noted the strategic framework of the National Development Plan (NDP) to put the South African economy onto a new growth trajectory with a strong emphasis on lowering the cost of doing business in SA, improving the country's competitiveness and exports, and linking local products with other emerging markets.
"The NDP targets an increase in intra-regional trade in Southern Africa from 7% to 25% of trade by 2030 and that SA's trade with regional neighbours should increase from 15% of total trade to 30%," said Gordhan. "To achieve these targets, SA will, among other measures, have to reduce delays at border posts."
Paper to digital
The new customs management system centralises the clearing of all import and export declarations using a single processing engine. By managing customs declarations and supporting documents in electronic format, the processing of cargo movements by land, sea and air will now be much quicker and more accurate.
Gordhan revealed that during the 2012/13 fiscal year, more than 4.3 million containers moved across SA's borders, representing R2.5 trillion worth of trade. Previously, SARS customs would have utilised around 16 million pieces of paper to process the 5.5 million declarations it would have received from commercial operators over this period.
"The [custom management system] will lead to an end-to-end paper reduction of up to 95%," said Gordhan. It will also relieve the administrative burden for traders and up security as customs now receives advance information about consignments from traders and can assess risk in advance using third-party data verification.
SARS says since implementation, the new customs management system has entered a stabilisation process which is expected to last three to six months "to cater for the cyclical nature of import and export declarations". Customs will then look to use the new management system as a platform for further enhancements to its operations.
Gordhan was unable to provide an exact figure as to the cost of the system.
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