New textile import and export regulations

South African Customs establishes strict import and export procedures for textiles

In general, most of the goods imported from South Africa are not subject to any restrictions, but some commodity imports must be approved by the relevant departments, or the import license must be claimed. The commodities required to apply for the license include consumer goods (such as food, clothing, textiles, shoes and books), wood, paper, engines, aviation fuel, refined petroleum products and various chemical products.

Recently, the South African Customs issued restrictions on textile samples / goods transportation:

1, goods containing textiles are more likely to be intercepted and inspected.

2, textiles, clothing and flat goods are regarded as "sensitive trade" goods by the South African government. Special documents and special treatment are required.

3. Specific documents and comprehensive information about goods are the requirements for ensuring effective customs clearance.

4, in order to prevent illegal textiles from entering South Africa, the Customs has established strict and practical procedures aimed at providing quality services to honest exporters.

5, textiles or clothing are currently targeted, and the South African Customs reserves the right to intercept any such goods.

South Africa's textile industry is the largest in Africa, and has a strong demand for textile and clothing products. The local demand for winter and summer two - quarter clothing is large, but the local textile industry is limited by technology and capacity, which can only meet about 60% of the market demand, so a large number of overseas textile and clothing products will be imported every year.

South Africa has been importing goods from China to daily consumer goods. As far as the textile industry is concerned, clothing is the largest import category in South Africa, accounting for 69%, 7% of household textiles and industrial textiles, 17% of textile raw materials, and textile and apparel industry which was once the key support of South African government. However, as South Africa's economic dependence is high, it is mainly commodity exports, so in recent years, as commodity prices continue to decline, the economy of South Africa has also been greatly affected, the speed of development has slowed, the manufacturing industry is declining, especially in textile and clothing industries. The clothing industry has injected 4 billion 900 million Rand to maintain and increase employment. Under the policy support, South Africa's textile and garment industry is expected to develop well in the future.

The implementation of new regulations on textiles export in Japan

Last year, the WTO technical trade barrier (TBT) information management system issued a report on Japan's plan to amend the "enforcement order of the chemical material assessment and its production regulations": G/TBT/N/JPN/572, which was mainly made by the Japanese economic industry province (METI), the MHLW, and the environment. The province (MOE) is responsible. The main purpose of the revision is to reduce and prevent the potential hazards of chemical substances. This revision is to be adopted in February 2018; the revised content is to be taken into effect in October 2018.

It is understood that the proposed revision is mainly aimed at the following chemical substances: short chain chlorinated paraffin (chain length of C10 to C13, SCCPs), SCCPs, DecaBDE0, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and salt.

The hazards of short chain chlorinated paraffins are: biological toxicity, affecting the immune system and reproductive system.

The harm of the dimethyl dimethyl ether is the risk of carcinogenesis.

The danger of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and salt is that it is very difficult to degrade, and is harmful to the environment and human body. The substance was designated as a class I specific chemical in 2010.

If the amendment comes into effect, the textile products will have the following effects:

First, textiles containing short chain chlorinated paraffin (chain length of C10 to C13, direct chain chlorinated hydrocarbons with chlorine content greater than 48%) and leather fatliquoring agents will be prohibited from importing to Japan.

Two, the flame retardant textiles containing 10% bddi and the chemicals for textile flame retardancy will also be banned from importation to Japan.

Three is any enterprise, if import short chain chlorinated paraffin (chain length between C10 to C13, chlorine content more than 48% of direct chain chlorinated hydrocarbons) and dimethyl diphenyl ether to Japan, need to obtain the corresponding authorization of specific chemicals of the I class.