SARS and NCC align track-and-trace plans as draft rules remain open for comment

SARS and the National Consumer Commission have agreed to coordinate their track-and-trace plans, with technical standards and information-sharing among the areas being aligned to avoid duplicate systems and limit compliance costs.

The agreement brings together tax-enforcement procurement and a separate consumer-protection consultation. It does not announce a contract award or bring the proposed regulations into force.

Two processes, coordinated standards

In their joint statement dated 12 November, the institutions said they were aligning governance and enforcement arrangements alongside the technical work.

SARS described its cigarette track-and-trace procurement as imminent in that statement, with a request for proposals to be issued under its customs, excise and revenue-protection mandate. That was Thursday's stated position, rather than confirmation that a tender has since opened.

Comments close on 11 December

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition's discussion document, published on 9 November, invites written input by 11 December 2026. It calls the engagement informal and says it does not replace the legislative process or prevent participation in later consultations on gazetted draft regulations.

The proposals include machine-readable product identifiers and electronic repositories for traceability data. These are proposed requirements, not new duties imposed by the discussion document.

Written submissions can be emailed to Consumers@thedtic.gov.za or mzwimbane@thedtic.gov.za. The consultation is separate from bidding for a SARS contract.

File photograph: SARS building in George, 13 January 2015, not the joint meeting or a track-and-trace installation. Photo: Bob Adams / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Architecture-_SARS_building_(16085114729).jpg . Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ . Cropped and resized for display.