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South African exporters selling goods to other Southern African countries may be eligible to receive SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) certificates. These certificates state that the exported goods were either wholly or partly manufactured in South Africa. A SADC certificate gives an exporter a great competitive advantage as there is little or no import duty charged on cargo accompanied with a SADC certificate. This lowers the buyer’s costs, making these products attractive in the importing country.
Before an exporter can apply for a SADC certificate they need to be registered at customs as a SADC exporter.
Countries that take part in SADC include: including: Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Malawi, Mauritius, Tanzania, Zambia, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Seychelles. Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland are part of the customs union with South Africa that allows free passage of goods without the SADC certificate.
Exporters need to fill in the certificate and send it with each export to a SADC country. Each section of the SADC certificate is numbered, below is how to complete each section.
Section 1: The exporter’s name and address
Section 2: The buyers name and address
Section 3, 5, 12 and 13: For official use, leave this blank
Section 4: Mode of transport (road/sea/air). You can add the departure and destination cities or the transport vessel number but this is not essential. For example “Roadfreight from Cape Town to Maputo” or “Seafreight, MSC Marina V 123”.
Section 6: This included a basic description of the goods and how they are packed. Are there any marks on the packaging or is there a container number? If not state “no marks” An example would be “1 x 6 metre container containing 1000 cartons dog food”.
Section 7: List the tariff codes of all cargo items here.
Section 8: Insert “P” for goods wholly produced in South Africa or “S” for goods made with some imported components.
Section 9: This is the total weight including packaging material.
Section 10: Give the number and date of the commercial invoice accompanying your cargo.
Section 11: Sign and date
 
Back Page: Turn over your SADC certificate and complete the back page by filling in a brief description of how the goods were manufactured and why they are of South African origin (for example “manufactured in a South African factory using South African raw materials”) and list any supporting documents that you may supply. The supporting documents are not compulsory and may include items such as a manufacturer’s declaration.