Last week, the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS), together with the South African Police Service and other agencies, carried out high-impact surprise raids in the Johannesburg CBD. Unsafe and non-compliant products were seized, and non-compliant traders were held accountable. While these operations are necessary and welcome, they highlight a ... Read More

An NRCS Letter of Authority is not a permanent licence. It is issued for a fixed period of three years. Once that period ends, the LOA expires and the product is no longer authorised for sale or distribution in South Africa. Many importers only discover this reality when a shipment ... Read More

Most importers focus on obtaining the Letter of Authority (LOA) and ensuring their test reports are in order. Fewer pay the same attention to the ongoing NRCS levy declarations that must be submitted twice every year. These declarations are mandatory, and missing the deadlines can result in penalties, estimated assessments, ... Read More

Most importers focus on the cost of the LOA itself — the laboratory fees, the application fee, and the professional fees. What many only discover when it is too late is the far larger expense that accumulates while the container sits at the port or in a depot waiting for ... Read More

Receiving a non-compliance notice from an NRCS inspector is one of the more serious situations an importer or manufacturer can face. It means the regulator has found products that do not meet the relevant compulsory specification, and formal action is now underway. How you respond in the first few days ... Read More

In March 2026 we reported that the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) had published a proposal for stricter controls on a wide range of imports from China. That proposal centred on a Pre-shipment Verification of Conformity (PVoC) system that would have required Certificates of Conformity (CoC) to be ... Read More