Global Trade Alert

On 30 October 2009, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) issued Notice no. 1011 exempting the customs duty on cotton.
 
The rebate provision is classified under 460.11/52.01/01.04/40 and reads the following: 'Cotton, not carded or combed, at such times, in such quantities and subject to such conditions as the International Trade Administration Commission may allow by specific permit.'
 
Depending on the type of cotton, the previous tariff schedule was 15% or 160c/kg in general, 5.7% or 60.8c/kg for EU member states, 15% or 160c/kg for EFTA member states, and free of duty for the Southern African Development Community.
 
The duty reduction was requested by Textile Federation of South Africa (Texfed) (Pty) Ltd. to the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC). The ITAC in turn recommended a rebate of full duty on cotton, not carded or combed, classifiable under tariff heading 52.01. The Commission argued that the good in question is not available in the required varieties in the SADC region to which also SACU belongs.
 
The rebate applies only outside the marketing season of cotton produced in the SACU, which is from 1 of December to 30 of April.
 
Affected trading partners
The GTA retrieves its data on affected trading partners from UN Comtrade. However, for the year 2008, there were no goods imported from outside the SADC. Also, the database was not able to provide any affected trading partners for Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho.