Acts Online
GT Shield

Customs and Excise Act, 1964 (Act No. 91 of 1964)

Customs and Excise Rules

Chapter V : Clearance and Origin of Goods: Liability for and payment of duties

Rules for Section 38 of the Act

Southern African Customs Union Unique Consignment Reference (SACU UCR)

 

38.14A

(a) For the purposes of this rule, unless the context otherwise indicates—
"declarant"

means a person who makes due entry of goods as contemplated in sections 38 and 39; and

"participating country"

means a country participating in the SACU UCR implementation, namely Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho or Namibia, as the case may be;

[Definition substituted by Notice No. R.503, GG44700, dated 11 June 2021]

"South African Revenue Service tax payer reference number"

means a taxpayer number contemplated in section 24 of the Tax Administration Act, 2011 (Act No. 28 of 2011).

(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 a participating country, use the SACU UCR generated in that participating country for that consignment; or
(iii) the transit of goods through the Republic to a participating country—
(aa) generate and use a SACU UCR for that consignment; or
(bb) if a UCR has already been generated in any country other than a participating country for that consignment, use that UCR; or
(iv) the transit of goods via a participating country through the Republic—
(aa) use the SACU UCR generated in that participating country for that consignment; or
(bb) if a UCR has already been generated in any country other than a participating country for that consignment, use that UCR.

[Rule 38.14A(b) substituted by section (b) of Notice No. R.1290, GG42740, dated 4 October 2019]

(c) The SACU UCR generated in the Republic must consist of a minimum of seventeen and a maximum of thirty five characters, and must be constituted in the following way:
(i) The first character must reflect the last digit of the calendar year in which the export or transit takes place, for example, if the export takes place in 2017, the first character will be reflected as 7.
(ii) The next two characters must reflect the UNLOCODE country code, as defined in the user manual referred to in paragraph 2 of the user agreement prescribed in the rules for section 101A, to identify the country where the declarant is registered or licensed for customs purposes.
(iii) The next eight to thirteen characters must reflect the entity code in respect of the declarant, as may be applicable in the circumstances, namely—
(aa) the customs client number allocated by the South African Revenue Service to the—
(A) exporter;
(B) registered agent of a foreign principal; or
(C) clearing agent, in the case where such person acts as a declarant; or
(bb) the South African identity document number in the case of a South African citizen or a permanent resident of the Republic, the passport document number in the case of a person who is not a citizen nor a permanent resident of the Republic or South African Revenue Service taxpayer reference number in the case where the registration code number 70707070 is allowed for the entry of goods.

[Rule 38.14A(c)(iii)(bb) substituted by Notice No. R.564, GG42381, dated 5 April 2019]

(iv) The next character must reflect the declarant’s entity code type, which may be indicated as—
(aa) "C" for "customs client number";
(bb) "T" for "taxpayer reference number"; or
(cc) "P" for "identification number".
(v) The next three characters must reflect the source of the unique reference for the consignment referred to in subparagraph (vi), which may be—
(aa) "INV" for "invoice";
(bb) "PON" for "purchase order";
(cc) "CON" for "contract";
(dd) "DEL" for "delivery note";
(ee) "INF" for "informal for persons declaring goods in terms of tariff headings 99.01 and 99.02";
(ff) "CUS" for "customs generated";
(gg) "DCL" for "declarant generated"; and
(hh) "OTH" for "other, or none of the above".
(vi) The unique reference for the consignment must be reflected after the source of the unique reference referred to in subparagraph (v), which reference must consist of a minimum of one character up to a maximum of—
(aa) thirteen characters in the case where the South African identification number contemplated in paragraph (c)(iii)(bb) was used; and
(bb) sixteen characters in the case where the South African Revenue Service taxpayer reference number contemplated in paragraph (c)(iii)(bb) was used; and
(cc) eighteen characters in the case where the customs client number contemplated in paragraph (c)(iii)(aa) was used.
(vii) The last character must denote whether the UCR is for single or multiple use as contemplated in paragraph (d), where—
(aa) "S" indicates single use; or
(bb) "M" indicates multiple use.

(d)

(i) The single use UCR must remain unique over a period of ten years.
(ii) Where a consignment is to be exported or transited in more than one stage, the same UCR must be used on all related SAD forms.
(e) Where a bill of entry containing a UCR contemplated in this rule is subsequently amended by means of a voucher of correction, or substituted or cancelled, the same UCR used on the original bill of entry must be used for purposes of such amendment, substitution or cancellation.

 

[Rule 38.14A inserted by section 1 of Notice R. 776, GG41798, dated 27 July 2018]