SADC Regional Customs Transit Guarantee starts pilot test along the North-South Corridor

In developing countries, cases where trucks or containers are offloaded in a transit country without these operations being recorded are very frequent. Transit operations carry a high revenue risk for customs administrations, especially when goods are subject to high duty or tax rates and this is why Customs usually put in place strict measures to protect their financial interests against the risk of illegal diversion of goods to their markets while in transit through their territory. One of these measures is represented by the request of an insurance bond or a bank guarantee that makes possible for the administration to recover more easily duties owed in case of irregular discharge of the transit procedure or when acts of fraud take place.

The SADC Regional Customs Transit Guarantee (RCTG) is a tool designed with this purpose, but differently from national transit bond systems, that oblige carriers to buy multiple customs bonds for each country they cross, it gives them the opportunity to use a single customs transit bond recognised and accepted in all countries in the Region implementing the scheme, with goods accompanied by a commonly accepted document (carnet or logbook) that provides proof of the existence of the guarantee.

This regional scheme, similarly to the COMESA RCTG, is therefore intended to facilitate the movement of goods, reducing transaction costs and delays in their movement while in transit.

SADC is now piloting and rolling out the SADC RCTG along the North South Corridor (NSC) and other corridors to ensure the smooth movement of goods in the region. The NSC connects the South African port of Durban to Lusaka, Zambia, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo, and to Lilongwe and Blantyre in Malawi, through Johannesburg (South Africa), Botswana, and Zimbabwe and is a vital corridor for trade and the sustenance of SADC regional integration.

The inception phase of this project has been completed and data collection and analysis tools development is underway to assess the level of harmonisation and standardisation of documents, processes and procedures on selected border posts and seaports.