In a major milestone for South Africa’s freight forwarding sector, the South African Freight and Logistics Association (SAFLA) has secured formal representation on the South African Revenue Service (SARS) Customs Stakeholder Forums.
This strategic breakthrough provides SAFLA with the opportunity to advocate for its members, giving the association unprecedented leverage to shape national customs policy, streamline trade regulations, and resolve systemic border bottlenecks.
“As a recognised industry body, SAFLA will now participate in a structured, multi-tiered engagement framework established by SARS to foster meaningful collaboration between the revenue authority and key industry stakeholders,” explains SAFLA’s Executive Officer Dave Logan.
The forums operate across four distinct levels: the National Stakeholder Forum, the National Operations Stakeholder Forum, Regional Stakeholder Engagements, and Key Industry Engagements. Each of these is designed to address matters ranging from broad regulatory and strategic concerns to day-to-day operational challenges experienced at branch and regional level.
A Stronger Voice for the Freight and Logistics Industry
“Membership of the SARS Customs Stakeholder Forums places SAFLA where it matters most,” continues Logan. “The forums serve as the primary platform through which industry associations may engage SARS on issues affecting customs and excise processes, including registration, reporting, clearance, payment, inspections, offences, penalties, and dispute resolution.”
Critically, the forums are not merely advisory in nature. By fostering direct collaboration between SARS and the private sector, the initiative aims to protect South Africa’s economy, accelerate trade facilitation, and cement the country’s reputation as a reliable global trading partner.
Issues that cannot be resolved bilaterally between individual businesses and SARS will now have a structured escalation pathway through SAFLA’s participation in the forums, ensuring that the collective voice of the freight and logistics community is heard and considered in shaping customs policy and practice.
“Securing representation at the SARS Customs Stakeholder Forums is a defining moment for SAFLA and, more importantly, for every business operating within South Africa’s freight and logistics sector,” he says. “Our members face real and pressing challenges at the border of customs compliance and trade facilitation every single day. Having a formal seat at these forums means we can engage SARS constructively, raise systemic issues on behalf of our members, and contribute meaningfully to the development of a more efficient and transparent customs environment. This is exactly the kind of institutional access that SAFLA was built to provide.”
SAFLA’s participation aligns with the broader mandate of the stakeholder engagement framework, which emphasises the maintenance of professional standards, the alignment of trade practices, and the active removal of barriers and impediments to trade.
The association will engage across all relevant forum levels, ensuring that both strategic and operational matters affecting the freight and logistics industry receive appropriate attention.
Industry stakeholders, members, and interested parties are encouraged to direct any customs-related concerns or queries to SAFLA, which will collate and represent these through the appropriate forum channels.
For more information about SAFLA and its advocacy work on behalf of South Africa’s freight forwarding industry, please visit www.safla.co.za.