The President of South Africa has recently assented to the Expropriation Bill (Bill), which is set to replace the Expropriation Act, 1975. This Bill outlines the specific procedures and conditions under which government bodies can expropriate land for public purposes. The aim is to ensure that land expropriation is conducted in a manner that serves the public interest. The Bill has sparked significant international attention, particularly after the new President of the United States (US…
Before 1 September 2024, imports valued at ZAR500 or less (c. EUR26) were subject to a flat rate of 20% in lieu of customs duties and no value added tax (low value consignment relief). This relief was apparently introduced under a 2007 concession list published by the South African Revenue Service (SARS). The concession presented various benefits to multinational companies as they gained access to the South African market through the retention of low costs…
Baker McKenzie’s Global Compliance News Blog published “South Africa: New rules for SARS Customs and Excise Client Accreditation,” which can be viewed here.
Baker McKenzie’s InsightPlus published “South Africa: High Court rules that Samsung device is a telephone, not a machine for tariff purposes,” which can be viewed here.
The UK has issued the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations 2021 (the “Regulations“), which came into force on 26 April 2021. These Regulations are designed to ensure that sanctions relating to serious incidents of corruption are enforced. The Regulations will give the government the power to impose asset freezes on designated persons or those dealing with them, with the aim of preventing the UK from being used as a “haven for dirty money.” This is the first time…
In light of the operation of a 21 day national lockdown and the President’s declaration of a state of national disaster, the Department of Trade and Industry introduced new export control measures on Friday, 27 March 2020. These measures came into operation with effect from 27 March 2020 and shall remain in operation until further notice. Export applications to the International Trade Administration Commission (ITAC) Section 6 of the International Trade Administration Act, 71 of…
On February 7, 2020, the US Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a document announcing the country-by-country reallocations of 78,071 MTRV of the fiscal year (FY) 2020 in-quota quantity of the World Trade Organization (WTO) tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for imported raw cane sugar from those countries that stated they do not plan to fill their FY 2020 allocated raw cane sugar quantities. See the notice for country-by-country reallocations.
On November 19, 2019, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register a notice announcing a hearing for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) country practice reviews of Azerbaijan, Ecuador, Georgia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, South Africa, and Uzbekistan, and the country designation review of Laos. These reviews will focus on whether: (1) Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan are meeting the GSP eligibility criterion requiring that a GSP beneficiary country afford…
On October 10, 2019, the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Ajay Gupta, Atul Gupta, Rajesh Gupta, and Salim Essa of South Africa (“the Guptas”) as Specially Designated Nationals (“SDNs”). The Guptas and their business associate, Essa, were designated in connection with their involvement in corruption under Executive Order 13818 (EO 13818), which implements and expands upon the sanctions authorities set out in the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act. The…
On 21 February, 2019, the Department for International Trade (DIT) issued guidance entitled, Existing trade agreements if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, which sets out the status of those agreements (free trade agreements, economic partnership agreements, association agreements and customs union) that may not be in place by exit day. It also links to trade agreements that have been signed and mutual recognition agreements that have been signed.