Open Letter to the Chief Commissioner of ITAC by the Chief Executive of NEASA

Mr Siyabulela Tsengiwe

Chief Commissioner

International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC)

Dear Mr Tsengiwe

CUSTOM – AND SAFEGUARD DUTIES

In our open letter addressed to you on 4 September 2017, we dealt with the fact that you changed your finding from the safeguard duties ‘not being in public interest’, to the duties being ‘in public interest’, without any substantial change in the circumstances leading to your initial finding. In this open letter, we pointed out that your reasoning does not reflect your duty to apply your mind. We therefore, once again, call on you to provide us with your rational as to why you changed your decision.

At the time of Governments’ announcement of the initial customs duties in August 2015 (hereby enclosed for ease of reference), Government undertook to take the duties on “immediate review” should the conditions attached thereto – steel prices should not have increased, there should have been decreases instead, there should have been no retrenchments and there should have been substantial investment – not be complied with. None of these conditions were met.

Therefore, in light of the above, we request written confirmation that the review process is being conducted and inform us of the progress made. In the absence of this process being initiated, kindly provide us with the reasons why this is not the case.

Our rights are reserved.

Kind regards