Amendments to Exchange Control Rulings for Import Payments

With the introduction of the Import Verification System (IVS) on the 15th of August 2011 and the amendments to the applicable Exchange Control Rulings of the Financial Surveillance Department of the South African Reserve Bank (“Finsurv”) during December 2011, it is no longer a requirement for Authorised Dealers to endorse documentation “Exchange Provided” for import payments.

Kindly note that this also applies to those clients that have been granted dispensation by Finsurv from the requirement to submit supporting documentation to their Authorised Dealers for every foreign exchange transaction related to an import transaction – the so called “Imports Undertaking Dispensation” and that are responsible for complying with the Undertaking and Exchange Control Rulings.

In light of these amendments, you may submit the required documentation electronically to Standard Bank or submit the original documents where available. 

The documentation still needs to be submitted in order for the bank to conduct the necessary due diligence checks as well as record the document references on the IVS hosted by SARB to electronically match the import payments to goods received and declared to Customs.

Supporting documentation for import payments can be emailed or faxed to the following Standard Bank branches: