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

Chapter XII : General

120. Regulations and rules

 

(1) The Commissioner may make rules—
(a) prescribing the powers, duties and hours of attendance of officers;
(b) determining services for which charges shall be payable, the rate and method of payment of such charges and the conditions attaching to such services;
(c) as to the reporting inwards and outwards of ships and aircraft (including such reporting of ships or aircraft calling or landing at places not appointed as places of entry or customs and excise airports under this Act), the entry or departure of vehicles overland, the landing, loading, removal, detention, release, examination, conveyance and handling of cargo (including transit and coastwise and transhipment cargo), goods under customs control, customs controlled area, the control of persons (including their baggage and goods) entering or leaving the Republic, the placing into or removal from any State warehouse of goods and the removal in bond of goods;
(cA) as to matters relating to the traveller declaration contemplated in section 15, including rules relating to—
(i) the information to be reflected in a traveller declaration, including information regarding personal details, travelling details, a disclosure of whether the traveller has goods contemplated in section 15(1)(a) or (b) upon his or her person or in his or her possession upon entering or leaving the Republic, and any other relevant information required;
(ii) the requirements for submission of traveller declarations, including the manner, format and time of submission: Provided that different requirements may be prescribed in respect of different modes of transport by air, sea, rail or land;
(iii) assistance to be provided to travellers in relation to the submission of traveller declarations at places of entry or exit and the circumstances in which such assistance will be provided;
(iv) procedures, subsequent to the submission of traveller declarations, to inform travellers of how to proceed when entering the area where travellers are customs processed at the relevant place of entry or exit;
(v) the information to be declared in relation to goods contemplated in section 15(1)(a) or (b) which were disclosed in a traveller declaration;
(vi) the entry of the following goods in the accompanied or unaccompanied baggage of a traveller that are imported into or exported from the Republic:
(aa) Commercial goods for trade or other business purposes; and
(bb) goods exceeding the duty free allowance contemplated in rebate item 407.02 of Schedule No. 4;
(vii) the payment of any duties payable, including the method of payment; and
(viii) measures to assist in combating illicit financial activity amongst travellers to and from the Republic through the processing of traveller declarations, including the sharing of information as contemplated in paragraph (vii) of the proviso to section 4(3);

[Section 120(1)(cA) inserted by section 22(1)(a) of  the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2023, GG49947, dated 22 December 2023 - comes into effect on the date determined by the Minister in terms of section 18 of this Act (section 22(2)(a))]

(d) as to the control of the storage or manufacture of goods in customs and excise warehouses (including the suitability of any buildings, plant and method of manufacture for the purposes of this Act, the hours of conducting any or all operations in any such warehouse, the supervision by officers of any such operations, the securing or marking of such plant, the inspection of such warehouses and the removal of goods from such warehouses), the testing of the output of stills, the conditions on which stills may be made, possessed, imported, disposed of or used and the fresh fruit which may be used by an agricultural distiller in the Republic for the distillation of spirits;
(e) as to the importation, exportation, transit or coastwise carriage of goods, the entry of goods, the payment of duties and other charges and fees, the costs which shall, for the purposes of section 46 be included in or excluded from the production cost of goods in general or of goods of any class or kind, and the movement of goods to and from any territory with the government of which an agreement has been concluded under section 49 or 51;
(eA) as to matters relating to the deferment of payment of duties contemplated in section 39(1)(b), including rules relating to—
(i) the circumstances in which application may be made for approval of deferment of duty as contemplated in section 39(1)(b);
(ii) the persons who may apply or submit such applications;
(iii) the requirements for such applications and the documents to be used in support of such applications;
(iv) the conditions on which a deferment of duty may be allowed, including security;
(v) requirements relating to deferment accounts and payment of such accounts, including deferment limits and payment dates;
(vi) the utilisation by a clearing agent of the deferment account of an importer;
(vii) requests for amendment in relation to security required, deferment limits or deferment payment dates; and
(viii) the suspension or cancellation of deferment.

[Section 120(1)(eA) inserted by section 22(1)(b) of  the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2023, GG49947, dated 22 December 2023 - comes into effect on the date determined by the Minister in terms of section 19 of this Act (section 22(2)(b))]

(f) prescribing the form of or the particulars to be reflected on invoices or certificates in respect of any goods to which this Act applies and which are imported into or exported from the Republic, or manufactured in the Republic: Provided that different particulars may be prescribed in respect of different categories of persons or different classes or kinds of goods;

[Section 120(1)(f) substituted by section 22(1)(a) of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2022 (Act No. 16 of 2022), Notice No. 1542, GG47827, dated 5 January 2023 - comes into effect on a date to be determined by the Minister by notice in the Government Gazette (section 22(2)(a))]

(g) as to the collection of duty by means of stamps, the method of applying stamps or stamp impressions to containers, the cancellation of stamps, the use of franking or counting machines, inks, dies and other appliances and materials, the accounting for stamp labels and stamp duties and the disposal of stamp labels;
(h) as to the collection of excise duties and fuel levy, the time, manner and terms of payment and the calculation thereof;
(i) as to the collection of duties which become payable under subsection (2) of section fifty-eight;
(j) as to the circumstances under which licences may be granted and the manner of issuing and renewing licences;
(k) governing the entry of goods under any item of Schedule 3, 4, 5 or 6 and prescribing the conditions on which such goods may be so entered or such goods may be transferred from one manufacturer or owner to another or such goods may be used, and as to the registration of manufacturers or owners so entering goods (including requirements as to the suitability of buildings, premises, storerooms and methods of manufacture for the purposes of this Act to be complied with by such manufacturers or owners), the records to be kept by such manufacturers or owners and the form of the application for registration and the particulars to be furnished by such manufacturers or owners;
(l) prescribing the returns and price lists to be rendered by importers or manufacturers or owners of any class or kind of goods;
(m) prescribing the form of any licence, bill of entry, certificate and any other document, register, stockbook or return which he considers necessary for the effective administration of this Act;
(mA) as to matters relating to security, including rules relating to the circumstances in which—
(i) the liquidation of security in the form of a provisional payment may be initiated by the Commissioner, and the requirements and procedures for such initiation; and
(ii) security in the form of a provisional payment may accrue to the National Revenue Fund and the procedures for such accrual, which may include circumstances where the provisional payment remained unliquidated for a prescribed period;

[Section 120(1)(mA) substituted by section 22(1)(c) of  the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2023, GG49947, dated 22 December 2023 - comes into effect on the date determined by the Minister in terms of section 20 of this Act (section 22(2)(c))]

(mB) as to matters relating to electronic payment of any amount required to be paid in terms of this Act;
(mC) as to matters relating to the making of certain advance foreign exchange payments in relation to goods that are to be imported, through authorised dealers in foreign exchange appointed by the Minister of Finance for purposes of the Regulations issued under section 9 of the Currency and Exchanges Act, 1933 (Act No. 9 of 1933).
(mD) as to matters relating to the issuing of advance rulings contemplated in Chapter IXA, including—
(i) the form and manner of submission of and the particulars to be included in an application, including the applicable fee and any other requirements for an application for an advance ruling;
(ii) the documents to be used in support of an application;
(iii) the requirements relating to the publication of advance rulings, including the circumstances in which publication of advance rulings may take place, the type of information that may be published and the form and manner in which such information must be published;
(iv) the obligations of recipients in relation to changes in circumstances impacting advance rulings, including requirements for applications for amendment of rulings;
(v) to regulate the implementation of sections 74J and 74K;
(vi) the requirements in relation to record-keeping, including the type of records to be kept and the period for which it must be kept; and
(vii) the delegation, subject to section 3(2), of any power which may be exercised by the Commissioner in terms of Chapter IXA, as well as the general administration of advance rulings.

[Section 120(1)(mD) inserted by section 22(1)(b) of the Tax Administration Laws Amendment Act, 2022 (Act No. 16 of 2022), Notice No. 1542, GG47827, dated 5 January 2023 - comes into effect on the date when Chapter IXA becomes effective in terms of section 17(2) of this Act (section 22(2)(b))]

(n) as to all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed by rule;
(o) as to such other matters as are necessary or useful to be prescribed for the purposes of this Act.

 

(2) [Section 120(2) deleted by section 73(d) of Act 45 of 1995]

 

(3) The rules made under this section may provide penalties for any contravention thereof or failure to comply therewith not exceeding the penalties mentioned in subsection (2) of section 78.