The Retail Motor Industry (RMI) on Wednesday warned that it is taking up the cudgels of its members to fight what it calls “abuse of the enormous powers” incorporated in the Customs Act, which it charges has unfairly been crippling small and medium-sized businesses in the automotive industry.
The RMI has appealed to the Department of Customs and Excise to revisit the stipulations of the Customs Act, specifically those dealing with the storage costs of detained goods and empowers officials to detain imported goods for an indefinite period.
RMI CEO Jeff Osborne said it has noted the continuing abuse of power by customs officials who misuse the stipulations of the Customs Act to detain purely on strength of unproven allegations, mainly automotive spare parts.
“The RMI is obliged to act in the interest of its members and won’t hesitate to pursue this matter to the highest levels of government if necessary,” Osborne asserted.
He said customs officials are overreacting purely on unproven allegations originating mainly from big business, specifically the motor manufacturers, without affording importing RMI members an opportunity to defend themselves.
“The entire principle and spirit of the law is being twisted and ignored.”
He suggested that the Customs Act should provide guidelines as to who should be responsible for storage costs should the importer be found not guilty and the detention of imported goods be declared illegal.
“Surely the onus should then shift to the department or at the very least to those who made the unfounded allegations in the first place,” Osborne said.
In his reaction to a landmark Pretoria High Court judgement that customs officials, acting on spurious allegations by senior management of two motor manufacturers, had illegally detained a container with imported automotive spares, Osborne said that practice has to stop immediately.
“By the time the case had been finalised, the importer had run up a storage bill of R260Â 000, much more than the actual value of the spares. Among other examples is a recent case where an importer incurred storage fees of R300Â 000 over six months.”
Osborne stressed that the RMI remains steadfastly committed to fight against counterfeiting or any illegal imports of sub-standard and inferior vehicle spare parts.
“There are plenty of replacement parts available and RMI members offer them at fair deals. The RMI is not against parts being sold at reduced prices provided these parts are safe to use and that customers are not being misled.”
The RMI’s executive for quality and standards, Giel Steyn, claimed that the RMI has for all practical purposes eliminated the importing of counterfeited components and look-alikes in the aftermarket.
He pointed out that since 2001 many similar detentions have been made every year. The majority of these imports are legal but the enormous legal costs scares off anybody willing to make a stand.
“The RMI’s members are furious about the misuse of draconian powers that has been crippling SMMEs [small, medium and micro enterprises], going directly against central government’s policies.
“But all it took was one small company which was willing to take the huge financial risk and challenge the customs officials in court.”
Osborne concluded by saying the RMI will stand fast to defend fair business practice for all of its members, big or small, and will not hesitate to expose dubious strategies where necessary. — I-Net Bridge