On 14 October 2011, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) exempted certain textile yarns from an import duty. This was done by creating rebate provisions, instead of amending the regular tariff structure:
 

• 311.41/54.03/01.04: Artificial filament yarn (excluding sewing thread), not put up for retail sale, including artificial monofilament of less than 67 dtex, in such quantities, at such times and under such conditions as the International Trade Administration Commission may allow by specific permit for the manufacture of textile and textile articles classifiable in Section XI of Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, provided the Commission is satisfied that the subject yarns are not available in the SACU region

• 311.41/5509.1/01.05: Yarn (excluding sewing thread) containing 85 per cent or more by mass of staple fibres of nylon or other polyamides, not put up for retail sale, in such quantities, at such times and under such conditions as the International Trade Administration Commission may allow by specific permit for the manufacture of textile and textile articles classifiable in Section XI of Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, provided the Commission is satisfied that the subject yarns are not available in the SACU region

• 311.41/5509.4/01.05: Other yarn (excluding sewing thread) containing 85 per cent or more by mass of synthetic staple fibres, not put up for retail sale, in such quantities, at such times and under such conditions as the International Trade Administration Commission may allow by specific permit for the manufacture of textile and textile articles classifiable in Section XI of Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, provided the Commission is satisfied that the subject yarns are not available in the SACU region

• 311.41/5509.51/01.06: Other yarn (excluding sewing thread) of polyester staple fibres mixed mainly or solely with artificial staple fibres, not put up for retail sale, in such quantities, at such times and under such conditions as the International Trade Administration Commission may allow by specific permit for the manufacture of textile and textile articles classifiable in Section XI of Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, provided the Commission is satisfied that the subject yarns are not available in the SACU region

• 311.41/55.10/01.04: Yarn (excluding sewing thread) of artificial staple fibres, not put up for retail sale, in such quantities, at such times and under such conditions as the International Trade Administration Commission may allow by specific permit for the manufacture of textile and textile articles classifiable in Section XI of Part 1 of Schedule No. 1, provided the Commission is satisfied that the subject yarns are not available in the SACU region

 

The regular tariff structure for yarns is 15 percent forall states in general, 5 percent for EU , 7 percent for EFTAand freeof duty for SADC member states.
 
Affected trading partners
The GTA retrieves its data on affected trading partners from UN Comtrade. However, for the year 2010, the database was not able to provide the affected trading partners for Botswana, Swaziland, and Lesotho.