Importers and exporters generally register with SARS Customs before carrying on customs activity. SARS’s Registration, Licensing and Accreditation portal supports electronic applications. A foreign importer must register and nominate a registered agent located in South Africa; SARS states that the registered agent assumes full customs liability for the foreign principal’s acts.

Before shipment, confirm tariff classification, customs value, origin, duties, VAT, excise, trade remedies, restrictions and the correct customs procedure. Every importer or exporter must lodge a goods declaration unless a specific exemption applies, according to SARS’s goods-declaration guidance.

Product and trade controls sit outside the customs declaration. Determine whether an ITAC import or export permit, NRCS compulsory specification, SABS standard, health or agriculture approval, medicine or medical-device authorisation, labelling rule or environmental control applies. Importing first and applying later can lead to detention, storage cost, seizure or inability to sell.

The supply and logistics contracts should allocate importer-of-record responsibility, permits, classification, value, origin, freight, insurance, inspection, rejected goods, recalls, demurrage and evidence. Use Incoterms accurately; they allocate contractual cost and risk but do not override South African customs law or make an ineligible party the lawful importer.

Maintain a shipment file with purchase orders, invoices, packing lists, transport documents, certificates of origin, permits, declarations, valuation support and proof of duty and VAT. Related-party import pricing should be consistent with transfer pricing and exchange-control records.