Custom Incentives

Industrial Rebate Concession: This exempts from payment of customs duties of some raw materials used for products sold either for local or external market. The customs duty liability will cease once the goods are manufactured or exported. This concession applies to industries such as textiles, foodstuff and beverages.

General rebates: This is available for companies that are exclusively export-oriented. It applies to raw materials that are not exempted above, but are imported for manufacturing and re-exported and the raw materials are not available locally.

Customs Duty Drawback Facility: This facility is limited to manufacturing companies that export outside the Common Customs Area (CCA), where they claim refund on customs duties they paid for imported raw materials. The application for the drawback must be lodged with proper documentary evidence within one month after export of the final goods.

Schedule 470.03: Manufacturing companies registered under this schedule are allowed to import raw materials duty-free, provided that 100% of output is exported outside the CCA. The company that sells some of its produce within the CCA will pay duty only on raw materials used to manufacture goods sold in the CCA.

Machinery and equipment: All machinery and equipment for purposes of manufacturing is imported duty-free.

Registration and bonded store: For a company to import raw materials under any of the above duty rebate concessions, it must first apply to the Director of Customs and Excise to be licenced to operate a rebate store. All materials imported under the concessions will be taken direct from port of entry to the rebate store and no other material will be allowed. Machinery and equipment imported temporarily for a specific project does not require bonded storage.

Duty Credit Certificate Facility: This is a product-specific duty rebate facility and it applies to clothing and clothing accessories, household textiles, yarns, fabrics and other textiles. The companies should have been exporting products from these materials to markets outside the SACU area for at least a year. The amount of duty rebated is a given percentage of the value of the exported goods, not the actual rate of customs duty. These percentages are 25% for clothing and accessories, 8% for yarn, 17.5% for household textiles and 12.5% for fabrics and other textiles.