Procedure

AGENCY: LIVESTOCKAND LIVESTOCK PORDUCTS BOARD OF NAMIBIA (LLPB)

3.6

3.6.1 Application for in-transit Meat and Meat Products permit

3.6.1.1 Any person applying for an in-transit Meat and Meat Products permit which falls in the domain of controlled products must:

   (a) Be a registered producer if Namibian evidenced by a Meat Board registration number. If a non-Namibian, the Meat Board will allocate a special temporary generalised producer number for purposes of facilitating the permit;

   (b) Complete the prescribed application form and supply all required details on such form;

   (c) Attach required documentation to the application form and;

   (d) Pay prescribed levies as determined by applicable notice in the Government Gazette.

3.6.2 Manner of submitting an application for in-transit Meat and Meat Products permit

3.6.2.1 An application for an in-transit Meat and Meat Products permit shall be applied for at the Meat Board Head Office at the Trade and Marketing Division or at Meat Board registered agents ingood-and regular standing. An application for the in-transit of Meat and Meat Products permit shall be lodged as follows:

   (a) Through a physical visit and due completion of the prescribed application form by an authorised representative of the exporter;

   (b) Through an acceptable and traceable electronic means of communication submitted to an authorised official of the Meat Board of Namibia via email, fax and the Meat Board of Namibia website;

   (c) The application form shall stipulate the quantities of meat and meat products in kg required to be exported;

   (d) The application form shall stipulate the name of the country and or district of origin from where these animals were sourced, the name of the in-transit country and the name of the country or district where these meat and meat products destined to.

   (e) The application form shall include details of the name, address and contact details of the exporter.

   (f) The application form shall specify the reasons for transit;

   (g) The application form shall stipulate the names of the entering and exiting border;

   (h) The application form shall stipulate the means of transport (road, air, rail or sea);

   (i) Any electronic interface between the Meat Board and applicants shall serve as an equal platform of submission;

   (j) An application shall be lodged at least 48 hours before the undertaking of exports in order to allow ample time for the consideration and approval of such permit. The burden of ensuring that an application has reached the relevant authority shall rest with the permit applicant;

   (k) The application for the in-transit of Meat and Meat Products permit shall be deemed complete if and once all the required documents have been attached to the prescribed application form and that application form has been effectively submitted to the Meat Board by the applicant or their assigned person(s)

3.6.3 Assessment of permit applications

3.6.3.1 Permit applications will be approved upon the following conditions:

   (a) The full completion of the application form with the signature of the applicant or their assigned person(s);

   (b) The attachment of a valid import permit from the importing country;

   (c) Copy of an invoice made out in the name corresponding to that in the application form and that stipulate the value of the animals;

   (d) Current exchange rate;

   (e) The attachment of an effective proof of payment of all applicable Meat Board levies where the applicant does not have an account or where the applicant’s account is not in good-standing. The effectiveness of the proof of payment must be confirmed with the Meat Board Finance Division;

   (f) The applicant must not have been suspended or de-registered on any producer number to which they are connected;

   (g) The permit shall be subjected to a validity of seven working days from the date of issue.

3.6.4 Collection of Issued Permits

3.6.4.1 It is the duty of the applicant to ensure that the Meat Board in-transit Meat and Meat Products permit is collected from the Meat Board or its assigned persons before the consignment of animals enters Namibia. The collection of permits from the Meat Board shall be done in the following manner:

   (a) Physical collection by the permit holder or their assigned persons at the Meat Board;

   (b) Sending an authorised courier service company to the Meat Board to collect the permit(s);

   (c) A scanned permit shall be counted as a valid permit for the purpose of in-transit of Meat and Meat Products as Border Management will require the original permit. This places the important responsibility of ensuring that the driver of the vehicle conveying controlled products should be in possession of a permit as contemplated in section 20 of the Meat Industry Act, Act No. 12 of 1981 (as amended).

3.6.5 Receipting of in-transit Meat and Meat Products permits

3.6.5.1 The receipting of in-transit Meat and Meat Products permits shall be done in the following manner: (

   a) Upon arrival at the point of entry (border), the driver of the vehicle conveying the consignment shall produce a valid Meat Board In-transit Meat and Meat Products permit;

   (b) The Meat Board official at the entry border shall verify that the permit is designated for such entry border and that the consignment loaded on the truck is appropriate;

   (c) Once verified the Meat Board official will seal the truck and this information will be communicated to the Meat Board official stationed at the designated exit border;

   (d) The consignment has 48 hours to reach the exit border, falling to do so will result in investigations and appropriate actions;

   (e) The Meat Board official at the exit border shall verify that the permit is designated for such exit border, the seal is intact and valid and consignment loaded on the truck is appropriate. A permit receipt shall not be issued for any number of animals exceeding that which is specified on the issued permit and a substitution of the type of animals shall not be permitted;

   (f) The Meat Board official shall cause an electronic entry of the number and type of animals actually exported consequent from a physical count and verification of animals and issue a Permit Receipt from the Meat Board Producer System (MPS) accordingly;

   (g) Where the MPS is not accessible for any reason, a physical permit receipt shall be issued to the importer upon verification of the consignment;

   (h) The Border official shall also verify all other details of the exporter and the consignment to ensure compliance with permit conditions and law;

   (i) The Border official shall enter a manual entry on a border control sheet and file all the documents on that record for onward weekly transmission to Border Management at Head Office.

   (j) The border officials shall prepare a border control sheet with all entries at the end of the month specifying the name of exporters, permit numbers, actual quantities exported, and the consignment, their loading and destination districts and locations as well as the name of the border official.

   (k) Consignments in transit shall be booked out of Namibia by Border Management using appropriate standard documentation and cleared of from the MPS. The MPS shall produce a report indicating in transit clearances on a monthly basis.

3.6.6 Cancellation of In-transit Meat and Meat Products Permits.

3.6.6.1 An In-transit Meat and Meat Products export permit held by the exporter is the property of the Meat Board and shall be cancelled in the following cases:

   (a) Where the exporter has changed their intention to undertake the In-transit due to any reason and notifies the Meat Board to effect cancellation;

   (b) Where it comes to the attention of the Meat Board that wrong, false, inappropriate or improper information whatsoever has been the basis of the permit issuance;

   (c) Where a permit has not been utilised within the validity period and the exporter has not indicated the intention to extend the validity period of the permit;

   (d) Where a permit holder’s conduct violates any permit condition;

   (e) Where a ban on In-transit Meat and Meat Products imports and exports has been imposed by the Directorate of Veterinary Services for any reason and Meat Board permits have not yet been used at the time of the ban;

3.6.7 Amendment of In-transit Meat and Meat Products Permits

3.6.7.1 A meat and meat products in-transit permit is issued based on the information available at the time of raising assessing the application.

3.6.8 Special Transit Permit

3.6.8.1 Livestock, meat and meat products may be exported on a Special Transit Permit allowing for Namibian consignments to be transported to another country from which they can be exported to the final destination.

3.6.8.2 The issue of a Special Transit permit contemplated in 3.8.1 shall be subject to the submission of a veterinary transit permit (health certificate) to the particular port or storage facility.

3.8.3 The consignment consigned through a Special Transit permit shall be considered a Namibian product while being held under controlled conditions at a foreign storage facility. 3.8.4 Special Transit Permits shall be reconciled against export permits on a regular basis as may be required by the Meat Board.

3.8.5 Quantities consigned under Special Transit Permits shall not form part of export statistics unless until export permits are issued in respect of such products.