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Commercial Exports

Largely Lesotho’s Commercial business is on imports, however there are exports made from the locally manufactures

commodities normally exported to Extra SACU countries, and the where the trader is engaged in an export transaction involving goods destined for Extra SACU, the clearance procedure has to be conducted through the Customs office located within the One Stop Business Facilitation Centre at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing , prior to crossing the Lesotho borders. Goods destined for Intra SACU require a submission of declaration documents together with the supporting documents to the Customs office at the ports of entry, where all Customs formalities will be carried out and goods released for exports if they meet the requirements.

Clearance of Extra SACU Exports

The clearance of Extra SACU exports is a function carried out by the Customs office deployed at the One Stop Business Facilitation Centre (OBFC)

The common client base at this area are the textile manufacturers trading in clothing, tapestries, handicrafts, denim fabric, Yarn, tea etc. The exporters are categorized in two segments due to their business interests thus:

Registered exporters under rebate 470.03 apparel and Industrial rebate.
Unregistered exporters.

1. Exporters registered under Rebate 470.03

The manufacturers under this category are allowed access to import raw materials from outside the Southern African Customs Union (SACU)free of duties, whereby in return they have to export garments made out of those materials to the countries outside the SACU region. Should they wish to export to Intra SACU, they then have to pay duties on the materials used for manufacturing the garments to be exported to Intra SACU. In an endeavour to facilitate trade the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing together with the LRA Customs have concluded that the manufacturers may only apply for the rebate certificate under 470.03 twice a year i.e. in January and July.

2. Exporters registered under Schedule 3

The purpose of this rebate is to promote local manufacturing industry, and under this rebate duties are not paid on importation of raw materials and accessories, however duties can be paid on excisable goods only.

3. Unregistered Vendors and Individuals

This category of people is by law expected to pay the revenue due on all the raw materials to be used for manufacturing, however they are at liberty to export their garments to all the countries with which Lesotho has trade agreements

Below is a list of Export Documents which exporters have to produce to Customs office for processing of their exports:

1. Certificate of Origin

2. Examination Certificate

3. SAD 500/01/02

4. Commercial Documents

5. F178 Exchange Control Declaration

Purpose of Documents

Product identification: To provide full description of goods, their originating status, the values, the commodity codes, Parties to the transaction (Exporter & Importer), Duties and taxes paid/payable.

Exporter or customs clearing agent fills up a certificate of origin with all information which supports that the goods originate in accordance with the given rules. There is a unique certificate for each Preferential Trade Regime for Non-preferential rules there is one form, Lesotho Government Movement Certificate.

The administered Certificates of Origin

CERTIFICATE TYPE	PURPOSE
AGOA	African Growth Opportunity Act; Used for exports to America only.
GSP	Generalized System of Preferences; Exports to countries such as Austria, Australia, United Kingdom etc.
EUR1	Exports to all EU member states.
LGMC	Lesotho Government Movement Certificate; Exports to all countries that the Lesotho government has not yet established the trade agreements with
SADC	Southern African Development Community; Export to all SADC countries
CANADA	Exports to Canada only
CHINESE	Exports to China only