Goods often arrive in South Africa via different modes of transport such as sea, rail and road. According to SARS website: Customs acts as a watchdog for revenue that has to be paid to the state and ensure that the goods are in compliance with national legislation. Customs Clearance is therefore the act of taking goods through the customs authority to facilitate the movement of cargo into a county (import) and outside the country(export) Customs Clearance involves the preparation and submission of documents required to facilitate exports and imports into the country. The Customs Clearance certificate is a document issued by customs authority to a shipper indicating that all duties have been paid and the shipper’s goods are cleared for export.
What is the process of getting the Customs clearance certificate?
Importers and exporters and their clearing or registered agents must be registered or licensed before submitting a customs clearance certificate. Every importer or exporter must lodge a customs clearance certificate before the goods are imported to or exported from South Africa. Declarants make a self-assessment with the transaction documentation. This customs clearance certificate is submitted to Customs either electronically or manually and this helps concerned authorities to calculate taxes and duties that will be levied on the cargo. Customs replies with a CURSES message. Customs releases the consignment or requests supporting documents validation to check the correctness of the Customs Clearance Certificate by means of a documentary inspection. The client then submits the supporting documents via scan or hard copies, which are scanned at the Customs office for attachment to the relevant case on the system. Clients are required to prove the origin of the goods when preferential rates of duty are applied. Once all the supporting documents are received, the case is routed for inspection. If all criteria are complied with, the embargo is released. Once released, the goods may be imported into South Africa or loaded onto the carrier which will remove it from South Africa via rail, air, sea, and road. The documents required for customs clearance in South Africa are: The documents required for shipments being imported and exported into South Africa include: The country of origin certificate., a commercial invoice, the bill of lading, the packing list, and the insurance certificate
After verification of these documents in the clearing process, goods may be released for import and export.
Language Barrier in Customs Clearance
Language plays a pivotal role in the process of Customs Clearance and getting your Customs Clearance Certificate verified before the release of your cargo. A South African may be exporting goods to DRC or Mozambique and these are French and Portuguese speaking countries respectively. Upon arrival at the country’s relevant customs authority, the exporter realizes that the official language is not English and therefore the exporter will need his documents accurately translated and certified. Similarly, importers in South Africa may receive documents from French, Portuguese, Spanish, and German nationals and these documents will need to be translated into English for the SARS authorities to be able to verify and clear the goods.
Expertise in import and export translation
With our expertise and experience in international trade translation, Frenchside translation and Interpreting offer high-quality services at affordable prices for all your translation requirements, whether they involve customs, railways, port management, and logistics or commercial correspondence, marketing, and promotional activities.
We translate legal documents, bills of lading, and customs papers for manufacturing businesses in any territory, keeping the products flowing into markets in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Our import and export sector translators are native qualified experts with a minimum of 5 years of experience. Their first-hand knowledge of the target language and local nuances allows for every import/export document to be precisely and accurately translated following the terminology of the industry.
No importer or exporter can do without dealing with customs documents and our translators in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, or Cape Town, will ensure accuracy is provided in the translation of your Customs Clearance Certificate. Our efficient translation services for your customs clearance certificate will cut the risk of faulty documents which cause delays in your import and export business transactions in South Africa.
Contact us to benefit from the quality and rapid solutions for your import and export translation requirements!
