Customs duty represents an inescapable financial obligation in international trade. Such duties are determined by valuing the imported goods according to the classification of the goods. To classify the goods under an appropriate tariff heading is notoriously difficult – despite the almost trite principles from judicial decisions amongst the jurisdictions discussed in this study, such as the European Union, Australia, Canada and the United States of America. In South Africa, the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964 defines the ambit of customs duties and ratifies the Harmonised System ("HS"). The HS allows for a uniform approach to tariff classification used by countries across the world accounting for in excess of 95% of the world trade. Countries that employ this system are obliged to incorporate the HS into such country's domestic legislation and to use all headings and subheadings of the HS without addition or alteration, together with the numerical codes and to apply the General Rules for Interpretation and all section, chapter and subheading notes. Classification of goods is to be done objectively at the time of presentation of the goods to the tax authorities. The intentions of the importer or the descriptions of the goods in advertisements and manuals constitute inadmissible evidence. In the recent judgment of Smith Mining Equipment (Pty) Ltd v The Commissioner: South African Revenue Service1 ("Smith Mining") the court, however, opined that it was not obliged to consider the notes referred to above, in the absence of evidence on use of the specific vehicles at the different locations allowed for in the Tariff Headings. The Court expected the importer to present evidence on use and relied on evidence from the manual, whilst it ignored the evidence that the importer presented structured along the applicable tariff notes. The court's approach clamped on the Additional Rules in the USA and the more liberal approach applied in Canada, but stands in conflict with the approach in the European Union and the trite principles from the South African case law. / LLM (Import and Export Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Customs duty represents an inescapable financial obligation in international trade. Such duties are determined by valuing the imported goods according to the classification of the goods. To classify the goods under an appropriate tariff heading is notoriously difficult – despite the almost trite principles from judicial decisions amongst the jurisdictions discussed in this study, such as the European Union, Australia, Canada and the United States of America. In South Africa, the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1964 defines the ambit of customs duties and ratifies the Harmonised System ("HS"). The HS allows for a uniform approach to tariff classification used by countries across the world accounting for in excess of 95% of the world trade. Countries that employ this system are obliged to incorporate the HS into such country's domestic legislation and to use all headings and subheadings of the HS without addition or alteration, together with the numerical codes and to apply the General Rules for Interpretation and all section, chapter and subheading notes. Classification of goods is to be done objectively at the time of presentation of the goods to the tax authorities. The intentions of the importer or the descriptions of the goods in advertisements and manuals constitute inadmissible evidence. In the recent judgment of Smith Mining Equipment (Pty) Ltd v The Commissioner: South African Revenue Service1 ("Smith Mining") the court, however, opined that it was not obliged to consider the notes referred to above, in the absence of evidence on use of the specific vehicles at the different locations allowed for in the Tariff Headings. The Court expected the importer to present evidence on use and relied on evidence from the manual, whilst it ignored the evidence that the importer presented structured along the applicable tariff notes. The court's approach clamped on the Additional Rules in the USA and the more liberal approach applied in Canada, but stands in conflict with the approach in the European Union and the trite principles from the South African case law. / LLM (Import and Export Law), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

L’Indonésie est un pays en développement qui adopte une économie ouverteoù le maintien de relations commerciales avec les autres pays est significatif. Il y a un niveauélevé de trafic économique international avec un impact substantiel sur l’économie et sur ledéveloppement national. Durant son développement, la collaboration avec d’autre pays a étégénéralisée. Cette thèse examine l’impact économique des accords de libre-échange et dela libéralisation des échanges tentés en Indonésie. Le but est d’adresser les problèmessuivants : examiner l’effet de la libéralisation des échanges sur le volume des exportations etdes importations, le revenu de l’état dans les aspects des échanges internationaux, tel queles droits d’importation, et fournir un examen approfondi du lien entre la libéralisation deséchanges, la pauvreté et l’inégalité en Indonésie. Une analyse empirique est menée enajoutant les facteurs de libéralisation aux fonctions de demande d’exportation etd’importation pour déterminer l’impact de la libéralisation sur les activités d’exportation etd’importation en Indonésie. Les résultats indiquent que, pour l’Indonésie, les politiques delibéralisation des échanges qui sont mesurées par les droits d’exportation et les droitsd’importation ont un impact négatif sur les exportations et les importations. Afin de faire faceaux problèmes fiscaux, on peut conclure que les politiques de libéralisation des échangesd’augmenter le volume des importations. Les conditions de pauvreté et l’inégalité d’un payspeuvent être influencées par l’ouverture de son économie. Les résultats révèlent que lalibéralisation des échanges a un impact négatif direct sur la pauvreté où la libéralisation deséchanges peut réduire le niveau de pauvreté. / Indonesia is a developing country that has adopted an open economy wheretrade relations with other countries is significant. Indeed, there is a high level of internationaleconomy traffic that has substantially impacted the economy and national development.Throughout the nation’s development, cooperation and involvement with other countries hasbeen widespread. This thesis investigates the economic impact of free trade agreements andthe trade liberalization attempted in Indonesia in order to: examine the effect of tradeliberalization on the volume of exports and imports; analyse state revenue regarding aspectsof international trade, such as import duty; and provide a detailed investigation of therelationship between trade liberalization, poverty and inequality in Indonesia. An empiricalanalysis is conducted by adding liberalization factors to the import and export demandfunctions to determine the impact of liberalization on export and import activities in Indonesia.The results indicate that, for this nation, trade liberalization policies measured through exporttaxes and import duties negatively impact exports and imports. To deal with fiscal issues, itcan be concluded that the policies of trade liberalization are still able to increase importvolume. Conditions of poverty and inequality in a country can also be influenced by theopenness of its economy. The results reveal that trade liberalization negatively impactspoverty and may reduce poverty levels in Indonesia.