ITAC opens sector-wide paper tariff review; novel s 217 procurement ruling

Acting under section 16(1)(d)(i) of the International Trade Administration Act at the Minister's request, ITAC has initiated a comprehensive review of the tariff structure, trade remedy measures, and the possible introduction of an import surveillance system for all paper and paper products falling under Customs and Excise Act Chapters 48.01 to 48.23. The review is driven by rising import penetration, declining domestic demand for print paper, and increasing input costs threatening the sustainability of a sector in which over R33 billion has been invested over the past seven years. ITAC will consider potential injury to the industry and upstream activities, the latest trade statistics following US trade policy shifts, and the impact of the Middle East conflict. Interested parties must submit representations within four weeks of the notice date using a prescribed questionnaire format available on ITAC's website.

A charitable trust entered a 1997 Land Availability and Services Agreement (LAASA) with the municipality for subsidised low-cost housing. The municipality was obliged to install bulk infrastructure at its own cost but failed to deliver a bulk-sewer link for over 27 years. The municipality resisted enforcement by arguing the LAASA had been superseded by a later tripartite Service Level Agreement and, in the alternative, sought to set it aside on legality grounds as non-compliant with s 217(1) procurement requirements.

The court held: The court held that the LAASA fell outside s 217(1) because the municipality neither acquired services from nor remunerated the trust — the agreement was a mechanism for making land available, not a procurement contract. The SLA did not supersede the LAASA: it annexed and incorporated the earlier agreement, which was the opposite of an animus novandi. The municipality's reactive legality challenge failed due to unreasonable and unexplained delay exceeding 27 years, compounded by the municipality's own officials having acknowledged the LAASA as legitimate and active as recently as 2019. A structural supervisory interdict was granted requiring the municipality to take identified steps toward installing the bulk-sewer link and to report on oath every six months.

Legal impact: This is the first ruling holding that a municipal land-availability agreement with a charitable trust falls outside the s 217(1) procurement gateway where the municipality does not acquire services or pay the counterparty. It reinforces the delay jurisprudence from Gijima, Asla, and Merafong — time runs from knowledge of the decision, not later appreciation of irregularity, and vacillating between positions precludes condonation. The structural interdict with six-monthly reporting obligations provides a template for housing delivery disputes against municipalities nationally.