Strategic Goods & Permits — What You Need Before Importing or Exporting Controlled Items

A deferred clearance is the umbrella for every procedure in which goods are moved while their duty remains suspended rather than paid. Where the previous module showed how bonded warehousing defers the duty point by storing uncleared goods under bond (Customs and Excise Act [Chapter 23:02], Part VII, Sections 68–84), this module shows how the duty point is deferred by moving uncleared goods under bond. The two great limbs are Removal in Bond (RIB) — uncleared goods moved inland within Zimbabwe from the frontier to an inland clearance point — and Removal in Transit (RIT) — uncleared goods passing through Zimbabwe to a third country. Both rest on the same enabling pillar the warehousing module flagged as the bridge: Section 83 of the Act, "Removal of goods in bond to any other port of entry or any other territory".

The governing architecture is compact and must be mastered exactly. Section 38 forbids importation without entry and without duty being paid or secured — securing is what a deferred clearance does. Section 39 requires entry, and where goods are removed to an inland appointed place the entry must follow within ten days. Section 40(1)(c) is the operative concession: an importer need not pay duty on entry "unless the goods are entered to be warehoused or to be removed in bond". Section 83(1) then offers the trader a binary security: (a) a bond with sufficient surety conditioned on payment of the duties unless acceptable evidence of removal or export is produced within the time stated in the bond, or (b) a cash deposit of not less than the amount of duty leviable. Section 234 governs goods in transit — they must be entered under Section 39, exported within the prescribed time, may not be diverted to local consumption without the Commissioner's written authority and payment of duty, and must be covered by security that is not released until export is proved; transiting motor vehicles must travel on a long-haul carrier, not be driven on Zimbabwean roads (Section 234(3), inserted by Act 3 of 2010).

The subsidiary detail lives in the Customs and Excise General Regulations (2021). Regulation 18(1)(e) prescribes entry for warehousing or removal in bond to a destination within Zimbabwe (Form 21 + proof of Section 83 security + clearance fee); regulation 18(1)(f) prescribes entry for removal in bond in transit to a destination outside Zimbabwe (Form 21 + Section 83 security; for COMESA destinations, Form 30A, the Road Transit Customs Declaration). Regulation 27 confines RIB consignments to a custom house, a warehousing port, or a container depot and requires entry at destination within ten days. Regulation 28 and regulation 80 fix the security instruments: a Removal and Transit Bond in Form No. 121 (the "RT bond") or an undertaking in Form No. 122 plus a cash deposit not less than the duty leviable. Regulation 60 governs transit movement — entry at the first port, the prohibition on opening containers or breaking seals except at a licensed depot, the three-day export rule for goods in transit, Commissioner-specified routes, and the deeming of un-uplifted transit-shed goods as abandoned after ten days. Regulation 81 requires every package to be marked "In Bond" before it moves. The trusted-trader shortcut is regulation 27A: the customs credit facility (Credit Facility Bond, Form 142) which defers duty up to seven days for compliant importers.

Because Section 38(4), 39(8) and 40(3) each provide that "duty" includes import tax payable under the VAT Act [Chapter 23:12], VAT on importation moves with the duty: under a deferred clearance the import VAT (charged under Section 6(1)(b) of the VAT Act, at 15.5% with effect from 1 January 2026, on a base of customs value + duty excluding surtax) is suspended and secured alongside the customs duty, and crystallises only when the goods are finally entered for home consumption — or never, if they are lawfully exported. This makes the penal sum of the bond the single most important number in the procedure: it must be large enough to cover the full home-consumption liability (customs duty + surtax + excise + import VAT), because that is exactly what the State stands to lose if the goods are diverted.

The risk this regime manages is transit fraud and diversion — uncleared, duty-suspended goods "leaking" into the Zimbabwean market without ever being entered for consumption. ZIMRA's controls are correspondingly strict: sealed acquittal of every RIB/RIT movement, the three-day transit window, mandatory routing, the long-haul-carrier rule for transiting vehicles, electronic cargo tracking, and a clearing-agent licensing precondition (regulation 31(c)) that no agent may run transit business without lodging a Form 121 RT bond at each originating port. Failure carries the heaviest customs penalties: unlawful removal or diversion of duty-suspended goods is an offence under Section 71(1a) attracting a fine of level 12 or three times the duty-paid value, or five years' imprisonment, with the goods and the conveyance liable to forfeiture under Section 188. This module sits at the heart of Zimbabwe's role as a landlocked transit hub serving Zambia, the DRC, Malawi and beyond through the Beitbridge, Chirundu, Forbes, Plumtree, Kazungula and Nyamapanda corridors, and it implements Zimbabwe's commitments under the WCO Revised Kyoto Convention (Specific Annex E, Transit) and Article 11 (Freedom of Transit) of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement.

Until this point in the customs chapter we have treated importation as a single event at a single place: goods arrive at the frontier, an entry is lodged, duty is assessed and paid, and the goods are released into Zimbabwe. That model — entry for consumption at the port of importation — is the ordinary case, but it is not the universal case, and a customs system that could only handle it would be unworkable for a landlocked country. Zimbabwe has no seaport. Almost every ocean-borne import lands at Durban, Beira, Walvis Bay, Maputo or Dar es Salaam and travels overland for days before it reaches a Zimbabwean clearance point. A great deal of cargo crossing Zimbabwe's borders is not even destined for Zimbabwe at all — it is passing through to Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi or beyond. And much cargo that is destined for Zimbabwe is destined not for Beitbridge (the entry frontier) but for Harare, Bulawayo or Mutare (where the importer, the warehouse and the market are). A rule that demanded full duty payment and final clearance at the dusty frontier post the instant the goods crossed the line would clog every border, strand importers without their paperwork, and make Zimbabwe useless as a regional trade corridor.

The customs answer is the deferred clearance: a family of procedures that lets goods move under customs control with their duty suspended, deferring the point of final clearance to a more convenient place or — in the transit case — to a foreign country where Zimbabwean duty will never be due at all. Two ideas underpin everything in this lesson. The first is bond: the State allows the duty to remain unpaid only because the trader has secured it, by lodging either a suretyship bond or a cash deposit, so that if the goods are diverted the revenue can still be recovered. The second is acquittal: every deferred movement must be closed out by proof that the goods reached their lawful destination — re-entered for consumption inland, warehoused, or exported across the far frontier — at which point the bond is discharged. A deferred clearance that is opened but never acquitted is the single most dangerous event in customs administration, because it means duty-free goods have entered the economy with no record of duty paid.

We must define the discipline's core vocabulary from first principles. Uncustomed goods are goods on which the duty has not been paid and which remain under customs control. To remove goods in bond is to transport uncustomed goods, with the duty suspended and secured, from one customs-controlled place to another. Removal in Bond (RIB) is the inland case — uncustomed goods moved within Zimbabwe, typically from the frontier to an inland clearance point, where they will finally be entered. Removal in Transit (RIT), often just "transit", is the through case — uncustomed goods moved across Zimbabwe from one frontier to another, destined for a third country and never entered for Zimbabwean consumption. The T1 is the regional transit declaration under which such through-movements travel within the SADC and COMESA corridors; in the Zimbabwean General Regulations its road incarnation for COMESA traffic is Form No. 30A, the Road Transit Customs Declaration. A transit shed is a customs-appointed building where uncleared goods are held pending clearance or onward movement; a container depot is the equivalent for containerised cargo. The bond that secures all of this is, on the regulations' standard form, the Removal and Transit Bond (Form No. 121) — the "RT bond".

This module is the natural sequel to the Bonded Warehouses lesson. There we learned how Part VII suspends duty by warehousing — depositing uncleared goods in a licensed bonded warehouse so that the duty point shifts from importation to the eventual removal for consumption (Section 75). We flagged at the close of that lesson that Section 83 — "Removal of goods in bond to any other port of entry or any other territory" — is the bridge out of the warehouse and into the movement procedures. We now cross that bridge. Where warehousing answers "what if I am not ready to clear and pay yet?", deferred clearance answers "what if the goods need to move before they are cleared — inland to where I actually want them, or right through the country to somewhere else?" The two are siblings: both suspend duty, both run on a bond, both are acquitted by an event (removal for consumption, or proof of export) that finally fixes — or extinguishes — the liability. ZIMRA enforcement interest is acute throughout, because deferred-clearance procedures are the classic vector for revenue leakage: the temptation to declare goods "in transit" to evade duty, then quietly divert them into Zimbabwe, is the reason the controls in this lesson are the strictest in the clearance system.

Deferred clearances are built from a small number of Act provisions, a tight band of General Regulations, the prescribed forms, and Zimbabwe's regional and multilateral transit commitments. Every specific below is taken from the source instruments.

B.1 The enabling provisions of the Customs and Excise Act [Chapter 23:02]

Section 38 — No importation without entry. The foundation stone. Section 38(1) provides that "no goods shall be imported into Zimbabwe without entry being made and without the duty being paid or secured." The words "or secured" are the entire licence for deferred clearance: the law is satisfied not only by payment but by security, which is what a bond or deposit provides. Section 38(2) and (3) forbid any person from removing uncustomed goods from a customs area, transit shed, ship, aircraft, vehicle or pipeline without an officer's written authority — the control that keeps goods under customs hold until a deferred clearance is lawfully opened. Critically, Section 38(4) provides that in subsection (1) "duty" includes any import tax which is payable in terms of the Value Added Tax Act [Chapter 23:12] (amended by Act 12 of 2002): the import VAT is part of what must be "paid or secured", so it is secured by the same bond that secures the customs duty.

Section 39 — Entry of goods to be made. Section 39(1) requires every importer to enter goods at the time of importation, or — where the goods are to be removed to a place appointed under Section 18 or 19 (an appointed customs area, transit shed or container depot) — within ten days after importation, with a proviso allowing the Commissioner to extend. This is the statutory clock for RIB: goods cleared into a removal-in-bond movement at the frontier must be finally entered within ten days at the inland destination. Section 39(2) supplies the default sanction for non-entry — removal to a State warehouse and, if still unentered after sixty days, sale by public auction — and Section 39(8) again defines "duty" to include import tax under the VAT Act.

Section 40 — Entry of imported goods. Section 40(1) sets out the mechanics of entry (deliver a bill of entry, subscribe a declaration of correctness and of the Section 104(3) relationship, produce supporting documents). The decisive words for this module are in Section 40(1)(c): the importer must pay the duty on entry "unless the goods are entered to be warehoused or to be removed in bond" (substituted by Act 3 of 2009). That clause is the express statutory permission to enter goods for removal in bond without paying duty. Section 40(1a)/(1b) (release on a three-month deposit for incomplete documents) and the customs credit facility referenced in Section 40(1)(c) (seven-day deferment) round out the deferment options.

Section 83 — Removal of goods in bond to any other port of entry or any other territory. The operative engine. Section 83(1) provides that an importer who, instead of paying duties or warehousing, wishes to remove goods in bond to any other port of entry within Zimbabwe (RIB) or to export them in bond to some place beyond the borders of Zimbabwe (RIT/export-in-bond) shall either —

(a) give a bond, with sufficient surety to the satisfaction of the proper officer, conditioned for the payment of the duties unless evidence of removal or export acceptable to the Commissioner is produced within a reasonable time stated in the bond; or (b) make a deposit in cash of not less than the amount of duty leviable upon the goods, pending production within a reasonable period of acceptable evidence of removal or export.

Section 83(2) makes the method and means of removal subject to prescribed conditions and restrictions — the hook for the detailed regulation 27 and regulation 60 controls. Section 83 is the same provision the warehousing module flagged as the gateway from warehouse to movement; regulation 79 confirms that export-in-bond of warehoused goods is effected under Section 83 security.

Section 234 — Goods in transit. The dedicated transit provision (substituted by Act 18 of 2000; subsection (3) inserted by Act 3 of 2010). Section 234(1) provides that all goods in transit shall be (a) entered under Section 39, and (b) exported within such time as prescribed and not diverted for local consumption without the written authority of the Commissioner and without the duty due being paid. Section 234(2) requires the owner to give sufficient security, in the sum determined by the Commissioner, for the payment of duties and compliance with the Act and any other import/export law, and provides that the security shall not be released until evidence has been produced to the Commissioner's satisfaction that the goods have been exported. Section 234(3) provides that where the goods in transit are motor vehicles, no such vehicle shall be driven on any road in Zimbabwe but shall be transported on a long-haul motor vehicle carrier — the anti-diversion rule born of widespread abuse of "transit" vehicles that quietly entered the local fleet.

Section 82 — remission where in-transit goods are lost. Section 82(1)(a) extends the accidental-loss remission (which we met in warehousing) to goods lost or destroyed by accident whilst in transit to a bonded warehouse or whilst in transit for export in bond, provided every reasonable effort and precaution was made and taken (Section 82(1)(b)). This is the relief that protects an honest remover whose sealed truck is destroyed in an accident en route.

The offence and forfeiture backbone. Unlawful removal of duty-suspended goods is criminalised. Section 71(1a) (the warehouse-removal offence, applied across the bonded-movement regime) makes unlawful removal an offence punishable by a fine of level 12 or three times the duty-paid value (DPV) of the goods, whichever is greater, or imprisonment for up to five years, or both. Section 188 renders goods dealt with in contravention of the Act — and the ship, aircraft, vehicle or other thing used to carry or conceal them — liable to forfeiture, with seizure procedure under Section 193. Section 174 (false invoices, false representation, forgery) catches the falsified acquittal or transit document, on the same level-12/3×-DPV/five-year scale.

B.2 The Customs and Excise General Regulations (2021)

A drafting note the diligent student must hold: within the General Regulations, cross-references to "section X" (without "of the Act") are references to the regulation's own numbered provisions, while references expressly say "of the Act" when they mean the statute. Thus "entered in terms of section eighteen" in the regulations means regulation 18 (entry on importation), not Section 18 of the Act.

• Regulation 18 — Entry of goods on importation. Prescribes the bill-of-entry mechanics for each entry purpose. Regulation 18(1)(e) governs goods "to be entered for warehousing or removal in bond to a destination within Zimbabwe": completion and submission of a bill of entry in Form No. 21 (with DTI registration where available), proof of security in terms of Section 83 of the Act with sufficient surety, and payment of the clearance fee (reg 175). Regulation 18(1)(f) governs goods "for removal in bond in transit to a destination outside Zimbabwe", subject to regulation 60: Form 21 + Section 83 security, with the proviso that for goods exported to COMESA Member States, Form No. 30A is required; plus the clearance fee. Regulation 18(1)(h) ties in the customs credit facility entry (security under regulation 28A).
• Regulation 26 — Authority for delivery and removal. Goods entered may only be delivered or removed in bond by completing and submitting a Form 21 bill of entry, registering on the customs computer system where DTI exists, and paying the section-125 (regulation) clearance fee.
• Regulation 27 — Removal of goods in bond on first importation. The core RIB control. Goods removed in bond within Zimbabwe may only be consigned to (a) a place with a custom house (for entry for consumption, temporary importation or onward transmission in bond), (b) a warehousing port (for warehousing), or (c) a container depot appointed under Section 19 of the Act. At destination the goods must be held in a container depot, transit shed, appointed customs area or bonded warehouse (or delivered into ZIMRA's custody) until they are entered and onward-delivery authority is granted — and the proviso requires entry within ten days from importation. Regulation 27(3) lets the Commissioner disallow or condition RIB by road, air or ship. Regulation 27(4): contravention renders the goods liable to seizure and the offender liable to a fine not exceeding level seven.
• Regulation 27A — Removal of goods under credit facility. Defines the "customs credit facility" under Section 40(1)(c) of the Act as deferment of duty for up to seven days from entry. The importer lodges a Credit Facility Bond in Form No. 142 with sufficient surety, and qualifies only if, in the preceding 24 months, it has not defaulted on duty, been convicted of a customs offence, or made disqualifying incorrect entries, and all outstanding removals in bond or in transit are accounted for or acquitted. On default the goods are treated as liable to seizure (Act Section 193) and Section 202 interest runs.
• Regulation 28 — Security for removal in bond. Any person entering goods for removal in bond shall either (a) enter into bond in Form No. 121, or (b) make application in Form No. 122 and make a monetary deposit not less than the duty leviable as security.
• Regulation 31(c) — clearing-agent precondition. A clearing agent who intends to engage in removal in bond in transit to a destination within or outside Zimbabwe must have submitted a Removal and Transit Bond in Form No. 121 at each port of entry where the transit entry will originate, in terms of Section 83 of the Act. Regulation 31(a)(ii) further bars licensing or renewal unless all outstanding removals in bond or in transit are accounted for or acquitted — acquittal discipline enforced at the licence level.
• Regulation 60 — Goods in transit. The transit operating code. Goods transported through Zimbabwe must be entered at the first port of arrival (reg 60(1)). For each mode it sets the conditions: by ship (reg 60(2)) and aircraft (reg 60(3)) goods may move in transit without entry subject to transhipment-only handling, transit-shed holding and security under Section 217; by train (reg 60(4)) the Commissioner may dispense with entry on transhipment conditions; by road (reg 60(5)) the Commissioner may disallow transit and, if allowed, imposes that goods not be removed from the vehicle except with written permission for transhipment, that packing not be tampered with, that containers not be opened and seals not be broken except under written permission at a licensed container depot, that goods in transit be exported within three days of the date of entry of removal (or delivered to ZIMRA's custody), and that vehicles use Commissioner-specified routes. Reg 60(6) covers travellers' non-merchandise effects in transit under officer security; reg 60(7) deems transit-shed goods not uplifted within ten days abandoned; reg 60(8)/(9) cover accident action and the 24-hour notification; reg 60(10): contravention → seizure and a level-seven fine.
• Regulation 76 — Re-warehousing / removal in bond to another port. Where warehoused goods are removed in bond to another port, the proper officer authorises carriage under regulation 26/section-27(3) controls; the goods must be re-entered within three days of arrival at the latter port, failing which they go to a State warehouse (Act Section 39(2)).
• Regulation 79 — Exportation in bond of warehoused goods. Entry by Form 21 + clearance fee; officer authorises carriage; regulation 27(3) applies. A manufacturer's licensed premises (Section 128) are deemed a warehouse for this purpose.
• Regulation 80 — Responsibility for duty on goods removed or exported in bond. Any person who removes or exports goods in bond (unless the licensee of the warehouse of dispatch) must give security at the place of dispatch for (a) safe removal/export and (b) production within the officer's time of acceptable evidence of removal/export. The security is (a) a Removal and Transit Bond in Form No. 121, or (b) an undertaking in Form No. 122 plus a monetary deposit not less than the duty leviable. Regulation 80(3): the remover or exporter remains responsible for the duty until the evidence is produced — the statutory locus of acquittal liability.
• Regulation 81 — Marking of goods to be removed or exported in bond. The containers of all goods to be removed or exported in bond must, before removal, be marked conspicuously with the words "In Bond".
• Regulation 148 — Entry for removal in bond within Zimbabwe (excise). Goods liable to excise duty removed in bond from licensed premises to a warehouse are entered as under regulation 72 (warehousing), and the manufacturer records full particulars in the section-142 return — the excise-side analogue of the customs RIB.
• Transit sheds and container depots. Regulations 35–40 (transit sheds) and 41–45 (container depots) appoint and license the holding places under Sections 18 and 19 of the Act, requiring Transit Shed Bond Form No. 133 and Container Depot Bond Form No. 130 respectively, customs-lockable secure premises, and the US$100 licence fee (reg 173). The ports and routes are fixed by the Customs and Excise (Ports of Entry and Routes) Order, 2000 (Statutory Instrument 256 of 2000).
• Fees, surcharge and interest. Regulation 173 — licence fee US$100 (halved if issued after 30 June). Regulation 174 — accounting fee US$10 per bill of entry (Section 231 corrections). Regulation 175 — clearance fee for every Form 21 (including those under regs 26, 76, 79, 83 movements). Regulation 176 — late-payment surcharge 2% of the duty per day. Regulation 178 — prescribed interest 35% per annum (Section 202). Regulation 177 — the section-120(3) FOB de-minimis value US$20.

B.3 The prescribed forms

• Form No. 21 — the universal bill of entry; the CPC on the SAD drives whether it is a removal-in-bond, transit, warehousing or consumption entry.
• Form No. 30A — the Road Transit Customs Declaration, used for COMESA (and regional) road transit traffic.
• Form No. 121 — the Removal and Transit Bond (RT bond), the standing suretyship that secures RIB/RIT movements.
• Form No. 122 — the undertaking lodged with a cash deposit not less than the duty, the alternative to a Form 121 bond.
• Form No. 142 — the Credit Facility Bond for the seven-day customs credit facility (reg 27A).
• Form No. 133 / Form No. 130 — Transit Shed Bond / Container Depot Bond.
• Forms No. 45 / 46 — requests to amend an incorrect entry (with the reg 174 accounting fee).

B.4 The international framework

• WCO Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC) — Specific Annex E (Transit): Chapter 1, Customs transit, sets the international standard that goods carried in Customs transit shall not be subject to the payment of duties and taxes provided the prescribed conditions are fulfilled and the required security furnished, with acquittal on production of evidence of arrival at destination. Zimbabwe's RIB/RIT regime is a faithful domestic enactment of this standard. (The warehousing module relied on Specific Annex D; transit is Annex E.)
• WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) — Article 11, Freedom of Transit: members must not impose unnecessary restrictions, voluntary or otherwise, on traffic in transit; must allow advance filing and processing of transit documentation; and should make transit guarantees no more than necessary. Zimbabwe ratified the TFA and notifies its transit measures under it.
• Regional transit instruments — the SADC Protocol on Trade and the COMESA Treaty underpin the regional transit corridors and the harmonised regional transit document (the T1 / Form 30A family), regional bond and carrier-licensing arrangements, and joint instruments such as the COMESA Regional Customs Transit Guarantee (RCTG Carnet) scheme aimed at a single bond valid across multiple territories. (Confirm the live status of Zimbabwe's RCTG participation against current ZIMRA guidance.)
• One-Stop Border Posts (OSBPs) — Chirundu (Zimbabwe–Zambia) became Africa's first fully operational OSBP, decisively shortening transit times on the North–South Corridor; Beitbridge (Zimbabwe–South Africa) has been redeveloped on OSBP lines. These implement the RKC and TFA transit-facilitation commitments operationally.
• Zimbabwe is not a contracting party to the TIR Convention (the international road-transit carnet system), so TIR carnets do not run here; regional transit relies on the SADC/COMESA documents and national bonds.

C.1 The unifying idea: duty suspended by movement, secured by bond, extinguished by acquittal

Every procedure in this lesson is a variation on one mechanism. At the frontier the goods are uncustomed — duty is due in principle but unpaid. Instead of paying, the trader secures the duty (Section 38's "paid or secured") by lodging a bond or a cash deposit under Section 83, and the goods are released to move under customs control. The movement ends in an acquitting event: either a final entry (for consumption, warehousing or temporary import) at an inland destination, or proof of export across the far frontier. On acquittal the bond is discharged and the secured liability is either paid (inland consumption) or falls away (lawful export). If the movement is never acquitted, the bond is called: the State recovers the full duty plus Section 202 interest at 35% per annum and the regulation 176 surcharge of 2% per day, and the diversion is prosecuted.

Three sub-concepts must be distinguished sharply, because traders, and even officers, blur them.

Removal in Bond (RIB) — inland. Goods destined for Zimbabwe are moved, uncleared, from the frontier port to an inland clearance point (a place with a custom house, a warehousing port, or a container depot — regulation 27(1)), where they will be finally entered within ten days (Section 39(1)(b); regulation 27 proviso). The classic case: a container of goods for a Harare importer lands at Beitbridge but the importer wants to clear it in Harare, near his premises and his broker. He enters it at Beitbridge for removal in bond (Form 21, CPC for RIB, Form 121 RT bond or Form 122 deposit), the goods travel sealed to a Harare container depot or bonded warehouse, and there the final consumption entry is lodged and the duty (and import VAT) paid. RIB does not avoid Zimbabwean duty — it merely relocates the place of final clearance inland.

Removal in Transit (RIT) / Transit — through. Goods not destined for Zimbabwe pass through the country from one frontier to another, bound for a third country. The classic case: a truck of goods from Durban enters at Beitbridge bound for Lusaka, exiting at Chirundu. Zimbabwe levies no duty on these goods if they are properly exported and the transit is acquitted — but it takes full security for the Zimbabwean duty that would be payable, precisely because the State's whole exposure is that the goods will be diverted into the Zimbabwean market instead of leaving. Transit is governed by Section 234 and regulation 60, and runs on the T1 / Form 30A regional transit declaration, the three-day export window, mandated routes, container seals, and — for vehicles — the long-haul-carrier rule.

Export in bond of warehoused goods. A hybrid: goods sitting in a bonded warehouse (their duty already suspended by warehousing) are entered to be exported in bond rather than removed for consumption — for example, re-export of surplus stock, or supply to a neighbouring market from a regional distribution warehouse. Regulation 79 effects this under Section 83 security, and regulation 80 fixes the Form 121 / Form 122 security and the remover's continuing duty liability until export is proved.

C.2 The two faces of Section 83 security — suretyship bond versus cash deposit

Section 83(1) offers the trader a choice that recurs throughout customs law, and the student must understand the economics of each.

A bond with sufficient surety (Form No. 121) is a tripartite suretyship: the principal (the importer or clearing agent) and a surety (typically a bank or an insurer/bonding company) jointly promise the Commissioner that the duty will be paid unless acceptable evidence of removal or export is produced within the time stated. No cash leaves the trader's hands up front; the surety's covenant is the security. The penal sum is a standing figure (a general or running RT bond) calibrated to the trader's throughput, replenished as movements are acquitted — which is why regulation 31(c) requires a clearing agent to lodge a Form 121 RT bond at each port where transit business originates before it may trade. The bond is called (the surety pays) only on non-acquittal. This is the instrument of the high-volume transit operator and licensed agent: capital-efficient but dependent on an approved surety and on disciplined acquittal.

A cash deposit (Form No. 122 undertaking + deposit), not less than the amount of duty leviable (Section 83(1)(b); regulation 28(b); regulation 80(2)(b)), is self-suretyship: the trader puts up cash equal to (at least) the full duty, which is refunded on acquittal and forfeited/appropriated to the duty on non-acquittal. It ties up working capital but needs no surety and no standing facility — the instrument of the occasional or first-time remover, or a trader an officer is unwilling to bond. The deposit must be at least the duty leviable, i.e. the full home-consumption liability (duty + surtax + excise + import VAT), because that is the State's exposure if the goods never leave.

The conceptual heart of both is the penal sum / deposit quantum: it must cover everything the State would have collected had the goods been entered for home consumption in Zimbabwe. Under-bonding is the cardinal error — a bond sized only to the customs duty, omitting the import VAT that Section 38(4) folds into "duty", or omitting surtax/excise, leaves the revenue exposed on diversion.

C.3 How import VAT travels with the duty under a deferred clearance

Because Sections 38(4), 39(8) and 40(3) each provide that "duty" includes import tax under the VAT Act [Chapter 23:12], and because Section 70(5) (warehousing) does the same, the import VAT is carried by the same suspension and the same bond as the customs duty. Three consequences follow. First, on an RIB, the import VAT is suspended at the frontier and crystallises with the customs duty at the inland final entry — the importer pays customs duty, surtax, excise and 15.5% import VAT all at Harare, not Beitbridge. Second, on a transit (RIT), no import VAT arises at all if the goods are exported and acquitted — but the bond/deposit must still be sized to include the import VAT that would have arisen on diversion. Third, the import VAT base is fixed by Section 6(1)(b) read with Section 12 of the VAT Act: customs value + customs duty, but excluding surtax, at 15.5% with effect from 1 January 2026 (raised from 15%). The student must hold the asymmetry established in earlier modules: surtax is part of the bond's penal sum (it is "duty leviable") but is excluded from the import-VAT base — so the VAT secured is computed on value + duty only, while the total secured still includes the surtax line.

C.4 Acquittal — the lifeblood of the system

Acquittal is the proof, accepted by the Commissioner, that a deferred movement reached its lawful end. For an RIB, acquittal is the final entry at the inland destination (the consumption/warehousing/temporary-import Form 21), evidenced through ASYCUDA when the destination office validates the arrival and the bond is written back. For a transit/RIT, acquittal is proof of export — the exit office's endorsement that the sealed goods crossed the far frontier intact, matched against the originating T1/Form 30A. Section 234(2) is emphatic: the transit security shall not be released until evidence has been produced to the Commissioner's satisfaction that the goods have been exported. Regulation 80(3) mirrors this for RIB/export-in-bond: the remover remains liable for the duty until the evidence is produced. Modern acquittal is electronic — ASYCUDA World matches the originating and discharging declarations, and electronic cargo tracking (seals/GPS units affixed at entry and released at exit) confirms the goods followed the route and were not tampered with. An un-acquitted movement is an open bond and a live revenue risk; ZIMRA's Bond Management and Risk units chase open RIB/RIT items relentlessly, and regulation 31(a)(ii)/(c) makes their clearance a condition of the agent's licence renewal.

C.5 The holding places — transit sheds, container depots, customs areas

Deferred goods are not loose in the economy; between movements they sit in customs-appointed holding places. A transit shed (regulations 35–40; appointed under Section 18 of the Act; secured by a Form 133 bond) is a licensed building, customs-lockable, where uncleared general cargo is held pending clearance or onward movement. A container depot (regulations 41–45; appointed under Section 19; Form 130 bond) is the containerised equivalent, with hard-standing, the capacity to destuff, reconsolidate and re-seal containers under customs control, and is the only place (regulation 60(5)(d) proviso) where a transit container's seal may lawfully be broken and the container opened. A customs area is a place appointed under Section 18 within which uncleared goods may be held. Regulation 27(1) confines RIB consignments precisely to these places (or a place with a custom house), and regulation 27(2) requires the goods to be held there until entered — the spatial control that keeps duty-suspended goods inside the customs net while they wait.

C.6 Seals, routes, time limits and the long-haul-carrier rule — the anti-diversion controls

The transit regime's strict physical controls are the practical expression of its single fear — diversion. Seals: containers in transit must not be opened nor seals broken except, on written permission, at a licensed container depot (regulation 60(5)(d)); breaking a customs seal is itself an offence. Routes: road vehicles carrying transit goods must use Commissioner-specified routes (regulation 60(5)(f)) — a truck found off the prescribed corridor is presumptively diverting. Time: transit goods must be exported within three days of the entry of removal (regulation 60(5)(e)); a transit that overstays its window without explanation triggers bond action. The long-haul-carrier rule: transiting motor vehicles must be carried on a long-haul carrier, never driven on Zimbabwean roads (Section 234(3)) — closing the notorious loophole by which "transit" cars were simply driven in and never driven out. Tampering with packing is forbidden (regulation 60(5)(c)). Together these convert the abstract bond into a controlled, traceable, time-boxed movement.

C.7 The frontier geography of Zimbabwean deferred clearance

The procedures are inseparable from Zimbabwe's corridors. Beitbridge (South Africa) is the busiest road frontier in Southern Africa and the principal entry point both for RIB cargo bound inland and for RIT cargo bound north. Chirundu (Zambia) — Africa's first OSBP — and Kazungula (Botswana, with the new bridge) are the principal exit points for north-bound transit to Zambia, the DRC and beyond on the North–South Corridor. Forbes/Mutare (Mozambique) links the Beira Corridor — the shortest sea route for much Zimbabwean and Zambian/Malawian cargo — and Nyamapanda links the Tete Corridor to Malawi. Plumtree (Botswana) carries the western route. Victoria Falls serves tourism and light traffic. A Lusaka-bound consignment landing at Durban typically enters at Beitbridge under transit and exits at Chirundu; a Harare importer's Beira-landed cargo enters at Forbes under RIB and clears in Harare. Mastery of the procedure means mastery of which corridor, which entry and exit office, and which bond and acquittal path each movement follows.

Below are the end-to-end operational steps for the two principal movements, as an officer, clearing agent or trader follows them in ASYCUDA World. The Customs Procedure Code (CPC) on the SAD (Single Administrative Document, Form 21) is the field that tells the system the declaration is a removal-in-bond or a transit rather than a consumption entry, and drives the duty-suspension treatment and the bond write-off. The specific national CPC strings are configured in ASYCUDA and should be confirmed against current ZIMRA practice.

D.1 Removal in Bond (RIB), inland — frontier to inland clearance point

1. Arrival and report. The carrier reports the cargo at the entry frontier (e.g. Beitbridge) on the manifest (Act Sections 24–29 reporting regime, established in the Documentation module). The goods are placed under customs hold in a transit shed / container depot; they may not be removed without an officer's written authority (Section 38(2)/(3)).
2. Lodge the RIB entry. The clearing agent captures a bill of entry in Form No. 21 in ASYCUDA World with the removal-in-bond CPC, declaring the inland destination office (a place with a custom house, a warehousing port, or a container depot — regulation 27(1)). No duty is paid at this stage (Section 40(1)(c)).
3. Attach the supporting documents. Commercial invoice, packing list, Bill of Lading / Air Waybill, certificate of origin where preference will later be claimed, the transport details, and proof of the section-83 security.
4. Provide security. The agent relies on its standing Removal and Transit Bond (Form No. 121) lodged at the originating port (regulation 31(c)), or lodges an undertaking in Form No. 122 with a cash deposit not less than the duty leviable (regulation 28). ASYCUDA debits the bond by the secured amount (the full home-consumption liability).
5. Mark the goods. Containers/packages are marked "In Bond" (regulation 81) and an electronic cargo-tracking seal is affixed.
6. Risk targeting at origin. ASYCUDA routes the RIB declaration to a lane — Green (release to move), Yellow (documentary check), or Red (physical examination and re-sealing). The officer authorises removal and the carrier accepts the goods (the regulation 26 / Section 83 authority).
7. Controlled movement. The goods travel sealed, by the permitted means, to the inland destination. Loss or destruction by accident en route is relievable under Section 82(1)(a) if every reasonable precaution was taken.
8. Final entry at destination (the acquittal). Within ten days of importation (Section 39(1)(b); regulation 27 proviso), the goods are entered at the inland office for consumption (Form 21, consumption CPC) — or warehousing/temporary import. The customs duty, surtax, excise and 15.5% import VAT are now assessed and paid; the destination office validates arrival; ASYCUDA writes back the bond and the RIB is acquitted. (Re-warehousing at the second port follows the three-day re-entry rule of regulation 76.)
9. Release and post-clearance. The goods are released into home use; records are kept for six years (Section 223); the movement is exposed to post-clearance audit (Section 223A). A movement not entered within the window is removed to a State warehouse and, after sixty days, auctioned (Section 39(2)), and the bond is pursued.

D.2 Removal in Transit (RIT) / Transit — through Zimbabwe to a third country

1. Entry at the first port. Goods transported through Zimbabwe are entered at the port of first arrival (regulation 60(1); Section 234(1)(a) read with Section 39) — e.g. at Beitbridge for a Lusaka-bound load.
2. Lodge the transit declaration. A Form No. 21 with the transit CPC, or — for COMESA traffic by road — a Road Transit Customs Declaration, Form No. 30A (the regional T1), is captured, declaring the exit office (e.g. Chirundu) and the foreign destination.
3. Security for the full Zimbabwean liability. Under Section 234(2) and regulation 18(1)(f), the owner gives sufficient security in the sum determined by the Commissioner — a Form 121 RT bond debit or a Form 122 deposit — sized to the full duty + surtax + excise + import VAT that would be payable on diversion. The security is not released until export is proved (Section 234(2)).
4. Seal, route and carrier conditions. Containers are sealed and must not be opened nor seals broken except at a licensed depot under written permission (regulation 60(5)(d)); the vehicle must follow the Commissioner-specified route (regulation 60(5)(f)); an electronic cargo-tracking unit is affixed; and if the transit goods are motor vehicles they must be carried on a long-haul carrier, not driven (Section 234(3)).
5. Risk targeting and release to transit. ASYCUDA assigns a lane; on release the goods move under the three-day clock (regulation 60(5)(e): export within three days of the date of entry of removal).
6. Exit and acquittal. At the exit frontier (e.g. Chirundu) the officer verifies the intact seals against the T1/Form 30A, confirms the goods, releases the tracking unit, and endorses the export. ASYCUDA matches the exit endorsement to the originating declaration and acquits the transit, releasing the bond. No Zimbabwean duty or VAT is collected.
7. Diversion / non-acquittal. If the goods are diverted to local consumption they may be so entered only with the Commissioner's written authority and on payment of the duty (Section 234(1)(b)). If the transit is not acquitted within its time (no exit endorsement, broken seal, off-route detection), the bond is called: the full duty + surtax + excise + import VAT crystallise, with Section 202 interest at 35% p.a. and regulation 176 surcharge at 2% per day, the goods and conveyance are liable to seizure/forfeiture (Sections 188, 193), and the offence (unlawful removal/diversion) is prosecuted on the level-12 / 3×-DPV / five-year scale (Section 71(1a); Section 174 for any falsified acquittal).

D.3 The customs credit facility (a duty-deferment, not a movement)

For a compliant importer clearing at the frontier itself, regulation 27A offers a parallel deferment: lodge a Credit Facility Bond (Form No. 142) with surety, qualify on the 24-month clean record (no default, no conviction, no disqualifying incorrect entries, all RIB/RIT acquitted), and pay the duty within seven days of entry rather than on entry (Section 40(1)(c)). On default the goods become liable to seizure and Section 202 interest runs. This defers the payment, not the clearance, and is the everyday cash-flow tool of the established trader.

The "quantity" in deferred clearances is not a duty paid at the frontier — it is the amount that must be secured (the penal sum of the bond or the size of the cash deposit), and the amount that crystallises if a movement is not acquitted. Every worked example therefore turns on one rule: the security must equal the full home-consumption liability — customs duty + surtax + excise + import VAT — because that is precisely what the State loses on diversion. We use a confirmed tariff line from the source Tariff Notice and the current VAT rate, and flag every figure that the sources do not confirm.

Standing facts and rates used. - Tariff line (confirmed, SI 203 of 2022 Tariff Handbook): cotton T-shirts, HS 6109.10.00, customs duty 40% + US$3 per kg. Motor cars, HS heading 8703, customs duty 40% (e.g. 8703.21–8703.24 passenger cars). - Import VAT (VAT Act [Chapter 23:12], Section 6(1)(b) read with Section 12): 15.5% with effect from 1 January 2026, on a base of customs value + customs duty, excluding surtax. - Surtax: where listed for the line, on the customs-value base. The surtax rate is set by the Customs Surtax Regulations, which are not in the source set; any surtax figure below is illustrative and flagged. - Interest and surcharge on default: Section 202 / regulation 178 — 35% per annum; regulation 176 — 2% of the duty per day. - Exchange: dutiable items are valued and paid in USD (Act Sections 115/115A); where a foreign currency is converted, the ZIMRA Rate of Exchange for Customs Purposes for the relevant fortnight is used and stated. The illustrative rate below is flagged.

E.1 Worked Example 1 — Removal in Bond, Beitbridge → Harare (sizing the bond, then acquitting it)

A Harare retailer imports 5,000 cotton T-shirts, total weight 1,000 kg, FOB US$20,000, arriving by road via Beitbridge for clearance in Harare. He enters them at Beitbridge for removal in bond (no duty paid there) and clears them for consumption in Harare.

Step 1 — FOB. FOB = US$20,000 (already in USD; no conversion needed).

Step 2 — Build CIF. Road freight from the supplier to the place of importation is US$1,500; insurance US$200. - CIF = 20,000 + 1,500 + 200 = US$21,700. (Had freight/insurance been undeclared, the Section 113(2) deeming provisos from the Valuation module would supply them — e.g. road freight from the RSA at 5% of FOB, insurance at 1% of FOB.)

Step 3 — Customs Value (VDP). No First-Schedule adjustments arise; Customs Value = CIF = US$21,700.

Step 4 — Customs duty (HS 6109.10.00, 40% + US$3/kg). - Ad valorem: 40% × 21,700 = US$8,680. - Specific: US$3 × 1,000 kg = US$3,000. - Customs duty = 8,680 + 3,000 = US$11,680.

Step 5 — Surtax. Assume, for illustration, no surtax on this clothing line = US$0 (rate unconfirmed — see VERIFY above).

Step 6 — Excise. Not an excisable good = US$0.

Step 7 — Duty Paid Value (DPV) / import-VAT base. Base = Customs Value + duty, excluding surtax = 21,700 + 11,680 = US$33,380.

Step 8 — Import VAT at 15.5%. 15.5% × 33,380 = US$5,173.90.

Step 9 — Other levies. None for this line = US$0.

Total home-consumption liability = duty + surtax + excise + import VAT = 11,680 + 0 + 0 + 5,173.90 = US$16,853.90.

What this means for the deferred clearance. At Beitbridge, nothing is paid — but the bond/deposit must secure US$16,853.90 (the full figure, VAT included, because Section 38(4) folds import VAT into "duty"). A bond sized only to the customs duty of US$11,680 would under-secure the movement by the US$5,173.90 of import VAT — the cardinal under-bonding error. If the agent uses its Form 121 RT bond, ASYCUDA debits the running bond by US$16,853.90; if it uses a Form 122 deposit, it lodges at least US$16,853.90 in cash.

Acquittal at Harare. Within ten days, the goods are entered for consumption in Harare. The US$16,853.90 is now paid (US$11,680 duty + US$5,173.90 VAT), the destination office validates arrival, and the bond is written back to zero for this movement. The duty has not been avoided — only its place and time of payment were deferred from the frontier to the inland office.

E.2 Worked Example 2 — Removal in Transit, Beitbridge → Chirundu → Zambia (acquitted vs diverted)

A Zambian buyer's motor car, HS 8703, lands at Durban and transits Zimbabwe from Beitbridge to Chirundu bound for Lusaka. Customs Value (CIF to the Zimbabwean place of importation) = US$15,000. (Per Section 234(3) the vehicle must travel on a long-haul carrier, not be driven.)

The Zimbabwean liability that the bond must secure (the diversion exposure): - Step 4 — Customs duty, 8703 at 40%: 40% × 15,000 = US$6,000. - Step 5 — Surtax: illustrative US$0 (rate unconfirmed; many motor-vehicle lines do attract surtax — VERIFY). - Step 6 — Excise: motor vehicles are an excisable class; excise applies per the Excise schedule — illustratively assume an ad valorem excise; rate unconfirmed. - Step 7 — Import-VAT base = 15,000 + 6,000 (+ excise) = US$21,000 (excise illustratively US$0). - Step 8 — Import VAT at 15.5%: 15.5% × 21,000 = US$3,255. - Full Zimbabwean liability secured = 6,000 + 0 + 0 + 3,255 = US$9,255 (plus any confirmed surtax/excise).

Outcome A — transit properly acquitted. The sealed vehicle reaches Chirundu within the three-day window, seals intact, on the prescribed route. The exit officer endorses the export; ASYCUDA matches the T1 / Form 30A and releases the bond. Zimbabwe collects US$0 in duty and VAT — the correct result, because the goods never entered Zimbabwean home consumption. The bond was a guarantee, not a payment.

Outcome B — transit diverted / not acquitted. The vehicle is found in Harare, off-route, seal broken, no exit endorsement. Diversion to home consumption is lawful only with the Commissioner's written authority and payment of duty (Section 234(1)(b)) — which was not obtained. The bond is called and the full liability crystallises, now grossed up by interest and surcharge. Suppose the diversion is detected and assessed 30 days after the date of entry of removal: - Duty + VAT crystallising = US$9,255. - Section 202 / regulation 178 interest at 35% p.a. for 30 days ≈ 9,255 × 35% × (30/365) = US$266.18. - Regulation 176 surcharge at 2% of the duty per day for 30 days. On the customs duty of US$6,000: 2% × 6,000 × 30 = US$3,600 (the surcharge is punitive and accrues per day — its base and cap should be confirmed for the period). - Plus seizure/forfeiture of the vehicle and the carrier (Sections 188, 193) and prosecution on the level-12 / 3×-DPV / five-year scale (Section 71(1a)).

The contrast is the whole lesson in numbers: acquitted, the State takes nothing; diverted, the State takes the full US$9,255 plus interest plus a per-day surcharge plus the goods and the truck. The bond exists to make diversion irrational.

E.3 Worked Example 3 — Why the import VAT must be inside the penal sum

Return to Example 1. Two clearing agents bond the same RIB consignment. Agent A correctly secures the full US$16,853.90. Agent B, sloppily, bonds only the customs duty of US$11,680, reasoning "VAT isn't customs duty." The goods are diverted before reaching Harare. - The State's loss is the full US$16,853.90 (duty and import VAT — both were suspended). - Agent A's bond covers it in full; the surety pays US$16,853.90 and the revenue is whole. - Agent B's bond covers only US$11,680; the State is short US$5,173.90, recoverable only by pursuing the principal personally (regulation 80(3): the remover is liable for the duty until acquittal) — often a chase after an insolvent or vanished trader.

This is why Section 38(4), 39(8), 40(3) and 70(5) all expressly fold import tax into "duty": so that the bond automatically secures the VAT, and the under-bonding of Agent B is not merely careless but a breach of the security obligation. The single most important computational discipline in this module is therefore: size every RIB/RIT bond to value + duty + surtax + excise + 15.5% import VAT — the complete home-consumption liability — never to the customs duty alone.

Individual travellers. A private person rarely uses a formal RIB, but transit touches travellers directly. A tourist driving from South Africa to Zambia through Zimbabwe carries non-merchandise effects in transit under regulation 60(6), cleared under such security as the entry officer requires, with the goods to leave within the transit window. A returning resident bringing a vehicle through Zimbabwe to a neighbouring home country falls under the Section 234(3) long-haul-carrier rule if the vehicle is genuinely transiting. The traveller's documentary burden is light, but the anti-diversion logic is identical: the goods must leave, and an officer may take security to ensure they do.

Small cross-border traders. Informal and small traders mostly clear for consumption at the frontier under the simplified entry regime (the US$1,000 dispensation, regulation 18(2)) rather than running bonds. But two deferred-clearance points bite. First, a small trader consolidating goods at an inland depot may have them removed in bond by a clearing agent on the agent's bond — the trader never sees the Form 121 but benefits from inland clearance. Second, small traders are a diversion risk vector: "transit" goods are sometimes broken up and sold to small traders before exit, which is why ZIMRA's risk rules watch small-consignment fragmentation around transit corridors.

SMEs. A growing importer-distributor typically clears inland by RIB to a depot or bonded warehouse near its premises (cheaper broker, easier examination, better cash-flow timing), and may hold a modest Form 121 RT bond or post Form 122 deposits per movement. An SME exporter supplying a neighbouring market from Zimbabwean stock uses export in bond (regulation 79) to move warehoused goods out without paying duty it would only reclaim by drawback. The SME's central compliance task is acquittal discipline — every RIB and every transit closed out, because regulation 31(a)(ii)/(c) makes open movements a bar to its (or its agent's) licence renewal.

Large corporates. Mining houses, manufacturers, fuel companies, supermarket chains and the large clearing agents are the heavy users. They run standing general RT bonds (Form 121) of substantial penal sums at multiple ports, move large volumes of cargo inland by RIB to container depots in Harare and Bulawayo, and — for the freight forwarders — handle the bulk of the north-bound transit to Zambia and the DRC. For them the discipline is industrial: ASYCUDA-integrated bond management, electronic cargo tracking on every transit unit, dedicated acquittal teams, and AEO-style trusted-trader facilitation. A fuel importer's bonded-then-removed petroleum, a mine's transiting capital equipment landed at Beira, and a retailer's containerised FMCG cleared inland at a Harare depot are all everyday corporate deferred clearances. The corporate risk is scale of exposure — a single un-acquitted high-value transit can call a bond for hundreds of thousands of dollars plus interest and surcharge.

Zimbabwean reported customs authority on deferred clearances specifically is sparse, and the source set does not contain an on-point Zimbabwean transit-diversion decision. The student should therefore treat the area as governed primarily by the statute and regulations (Sections 83, 234; regs 27, 28, 60, 80) rather than by case law, and rely on the following persuasive and principle-level authorities, all foreign decisions being non-binding on the Zimbabwean courts.

The bond is a contract of suretyship, construed strictly (general principle; persuasive South African authority). The Form 121 RT bond and the Form 122 undertaking are suretyships, and the long-settled principle — applied in South African revenue and suretyship jurisprudence — is that a surety's liability is co-extensive with, but not greater than, the principal debt, and that the conditions of the bond are construed strictly. For the customs officer this cuts both ways: the bond secures exactly the duty it was conditioned to secure (hence the criticality of sizing it to the full liability, Example 3), and the surety can be held to the whole secured sum on non-acquittal. The student should cite this as a principle, not attribute it to a specific invented case.

Strict construction of revenue-relief and suspension provisions (non-binding, SA SCA line). Consistent with the strict-construction principle relied on in the Rebates and Drawback modules, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal has repeatedly held that provisions relieving or suspending duty are construed strictly against the person claiming the benefit. Transit and removal-in-bond are duty-suspension procedures; a trader who fails to meet a condition (entry within the window, intact seals, proof of export) loses the suspension and the full duty revives. This is the doctrinal underpinning of Section 234(2)'s rule that the security is not released until export is proved.

Classification of the in-transit good still governs the secured amount. Because the bond is sized to the duty that would be payable, the classification and valuation authorities from earlier modules remain live — Thomas Barlow & Sons Ltd v Commissioner for Customs and Excise 1970 (2) SA 660 (A) (the three-stage classification enquiry) and Commissioner for Customs and Excise v IBM 1985 (4) SA 852 (A) (objective characteristics) — non-binding persuasive authority for fixing the tariff line, and hence the penal sum, of transiting goods.

Where a genuine Zimbabwean transit-diversion or bond-call dispute reaches the courts, the appellate path is the Fiscal Appeal Court under the Fiscal Appeal Court Act [Chapter 23:05], as for other customs determinations — never invent a Zimbabwean citation; argue from Sections 83 and 234 and regulations 27, 28, 60 and 80.

1. Under-bonding by omitting import VAT (and surtax/excise). The cardinal error of Example 3. Because Section 38(4) folds import VAT into "duty", the bond must secure value + duty + surtax + excise + 15.5% import VAT — never the customs duty alone. The correct practice is to compute the full home-consumption liability and bond to it.
2. Treating a transit as a way to avoid duty rather than to defer/exempt under control. Goods genuinely transiting bear no Zimbabwean duty — but diverting them to local consumption without the Commissioner's written authority and payment (Section 234(1)(b)) is the archetypal customs fraud, carrying seizure, forfeiture and the level-12/3×-DPV/five-year penalty (Sections 71(1a), 188, 174).
3. Breaking seals or opening containers off-depot. Regulation 60(5)(d) permits a transit container to be opened and its seal broken only at a licensed container depot under written permission. Roadside re-stuffing is an offence and the hallmark of diversion.
4. Straying off the prescribed route or overstaying the window. Regulation 60(5)(e)/(f): transit goods must exit within three days by the Commissioner-specified route. An off-route or overdue truck is presumptively diverting and triggers bond action.
5. Driving transit motor vehicles instead of carrying them. Section 234(3) requires transiting vehicles to travel on a long-haul carrier. Driving them is both a control breach and the classic vehicle-diversion method.
6. Missing the ten-day inland entry on an RIB. Section 39(1)(b) and the regulation 27 proviso require final entry within ten days; default sends the goods to a State warehouse and a sixty-day auction (Section 39(2)), with the bond pursued.
7. Wrong CPC on the Form 21. The CPC drives whether ASYCUDA treats the declaration as transit, removal-in-bond, warehousing or consumption — and whether and how the bond is debited and written off. A consumption CPC on goods meant to transit collects duty needlessly; a transit CPC on goods meant for home use suspends duty that should have been paid.
8. Failing to acquit — leaving open RIB/RIT items. An open movement is a live bond and a revenue risk; regulation 31(a)(ii)/(c) makes outstanding un-acquitted movements a bar to licence renewal. Diligent agents reconcile open items continuously.
9. Consigning RIB goods to a non-permitted place. Regulation 27(1) confines RIB to a place with a custom house, a warehousing port, or a container depot. Consigning elsewhere is a contravention (seizure + level-seven fine, reg 27(4)).
10. Omitting the "In Bond" marking. Regulation 81 requires conspicuous "In Bond" marking before removal; an unmarked in-bond package undermines the control and is a contravention.
11. Forgetting that the remover stays liable until acquittal. Regulation 80(3) and Section 234(2) keep the remover/exporter on the hook for the duty until proof of removal/export is produced — the bond does not transfer the risk away, it secures it.

Work through the questions one at a time. Choose an answer and it is graded immediately, with an explanation and the provision it comes from. Your progress is saved, so you can stop and resume.

• Deferred clearance suspends duty by moving uncleared goods under bond, the sibling of warehousing (which suspends by storing). The statutory bridge is Section 83 of the Customs and Excise Act [Chapter 23:02], flagged in the Bonded Warehouses module.
• Section 38 ("paid or secured") is the licence; Section 40(1)(c) is the express permission to enter goods for removal in bond without paying duty; Section 83(1) offers the binary security — a bond with sufficient surety (Form 121) or a cash deposit ≥ the duty (Form 122).
• RIB is inland (frontier → inland clearance point; duty ultimately payable inland; acquitted by final entry within ten days, Section 39(1)(b)/reg 27). RIT/transit is through (frontier → third country; no Zimbabwean duty if acquitted; acquitted by proof of export, Section 234/reg 60).
• Section 234 governs transit: entry under Section 39, export within the prescribed time, no diversion without the Commissioner's authority and duty (Section 234(1)(b)), security not released until export proved (Section 234(2)), and vehicles carried on a long-haul carrier, not driven (Section 234(3)).
• Size the bond to the full home-consumption liability — Customs Value + duty + surtax + excise + 15.5% import VAT (the rate from 1 January 2026, VAT Act Section 6(1)(b)/Section 12) — because Section 38(4)/39(8)/40(3) fold import VAT into "duty". Under-bonding by omitting VAT is the cardinal error.
• The General Regulations (2021) supply the operating code: reg 18(1)(e)/(f) (RIB / transit entry), reg 27 (permitted destinations; ten-day entry; seizure + level-7 on breach), reg 27A (customs credit facility, Form 142, seven-day deferment), reg 28 / reg 80 (Form 121 / Form 122 security; remover liable until acquittal), reg 60 (transit: first-port entry, seals, three-day window, specified routes, 24-hour accident notice), reg 81 ("In Bond" marking), reg 76 (three-day re-warehousing), reg 148 (excise RIB).
• Acquittal is everything. An un-acquitted movement is an open bond and a live revenue risk; reg 31(a)(ii)/(c) makes outstanding RIB/RIT a bar to clearing-agent licensing/renewal.
• Diversion is the gravest risk and the gravest offence: full duty + VAT + 35% interest (reg 178) + 2%/day surcharge (reg 176), plus seizure/forfeiture (Sections 188, 193) and the level-12 / 3× DPV / five-year penalty (Section 71(1a); Section 174 for false acquittals).
• Forms: Form 21 (BoE, CPC-driven), Form 30A (Road Transit Declaration / regional T1), Form 121 (Removal and Transit Bond), Form 122 (undertaking + deposit), Form 142 (Credit Facility Bond), Forms 133/130 (transit-shed/container-depot bonds).
• The big picture: deferred clearance is what makes a landlocked Zimbabwe a regional transit hub — serving Zambia, the DRC and Malawi through Beitbridge, Chirundu, Forbes, Plumtree, Kazungula and Nyamapanda — while protecting the revenue. It enacts the WCO Revised Kyoto Convention Specific Annex E (Transit) and Article 11 (Freedom of Transit) of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, operationalised through One-Stop Border Posts (Chirundu, Beitbridge), and feeds directly into the next modules on ASYCUDA World, containerisation, exportation and temporary imports.

Table 1 — Removal in Bond vs Removal in Transit vs Export in Bond

Table 2 — The two section-83 security instruments

Table 3 — Key forms, bonds and fees

Diagram 1 — Removal-in-bond / transit clearance and acquittal flow

flowchart TD
 A[Goods arrive at entry frontier] --> B[Held under customs control in transit shed or depot]
 B --> C[Lodge Form 21 in ASYCUDA with RIB or transit CPC]
 C --> D[Provide Section 83 security - Form 121 bond or Form 122 deposit]
 D --> E[Mark In Bond and affix tracking seal]
 E --> F{Risk targeting lane}
 F -->|Green| G[Release to move]
 F -->|Yellow| H[Document check]
 F -->|Red| I[Physical exam and re-seal]
 H --> G
 I --> G
 G --> J{RIB inland or RIT transit}
 J -->|RIB inland| K[Move sealed to inland office]
 K --> L[Final entry within 10 days - pay duty surtax excise and 15.5 percent VAT]
 L --> M[Arrival validated - bond written back - ACQUITTED]
 J -->|RIT transit| N[Move sealed on specified route - export within 3 days]
 N --> O{Exit endorsed and seals intact}
 O -->|Yes| P[Export proved - security released - ACQUITTED - no Zim duty]
 O -->|No| Q[Diversion - bond called - duty plus VAT plus 35pc interest plus 2pc per day surcharge plus seizure and forfeiture]

Diagram 2 — Choosing the deferred-clearance path

flowchart TD
 A[Uncleared goods at the frontier] --> B{Where are the goods going}
 B -->|Into Zimbabwe but cleared inland| C[Removal in Bond - RIB]
 B -->|Through Zimbabwe to a third country| D[Removal in Transit - RIT]
 B -->|Already warehoused and now leaving| E[Export in Bond]
 C --> F[Form 21 RIB CPC plus Section 83 security]
 D --> G[Form 21 or Form 30A plus Section 234 security]
 E --> H[Form 21 export CPC plus reg 80 security]
 F --> I[Acquit by final inland entry within 10 days]
 G --> J[Acquit by proof of export within 3 days]
 H --> J
 I --> K[Bond discharged]
 J --> K[Bond discharged]

Statutes & sections — Customs and Excise Act [Chapter 23:02] - Section 38 — no importation without entry; duty "paid or secured"; removal of uncustomed goods only on officer's authority; Section 38(4) "duty" includes import tax (VAT Act). - Section 39 — entry to be made at importation or within ten days for goods removed to an appointed place; State warehouse and sixty-day auction default; Section 39(8) VAT inclusion. - Section 40 — entry of imported goods; Section 40(1)(c) no duty on entry where goods entered to be warehoused or removed in bond; release-on-deposit (1a)/(1b); customs credit facility reference. - Section 82 — remission where goods lost/destroyed by accident in transit to a warehouse or in transit for export in bond, every reasonable precaution taken. - Section 83 — Removal of goods in bond to any other port of entry or any other territory: (1)(a) bond with sufficient surety; (1)(b) cash deposit ≥ duty; (2) method/means subject to prescribed conditions. - Section 71(1a) — unlawful removal offence: level 12 or 3× DPV, up to five years. - Section 174 — false invoices, false representation, forgery (level 12 / 3× DPV / five years). - Section 188, Section 193 — goods, ships, aircraft, vehicles liable to forfeiture; seizure procedure. - Section 202 — interest on unpaid duty and payment by instalments. - Section 223 / Section 223A — six-year records; post-clearance audit. - Section 234 — Goods in transit: (1) entry under Section 39 and export within prescribed time, no diversion without Commissioner's authority and duty; (2) sufficient security, not released until export proved; (3) motor vehicles carried on a long-haul carrier (Act 3 of 2010). - Section 235 — regulation-making power (fees, transit, removal).

Statutes & sections — Value Added Tax Act [Chapter 23:12] - Section 6(1)(b) read with Section 12 — VAT on importation; base = customs value + customs duty, excluding surtax; rate 15.5% from 1 January 2026; "duty" inclusion mirrored across the Customs Act.

Regulations & Statutory Instruments — Customs and Excise General Regulations (2021) - reg 18(1)(e)/(f), (2), (6) — entry for warehousing/RIB within Zimbabwe; RIB in transit (Form 30A for COMESA); simplified entry; amendment Forms 45/46. - reg 26 — authority for delivery and removal (Form 21). - reg 27 — removal in bond on first importation: permitted destinations; ten-day entry; road/air/ship discretion; seizure + level-7 on breach. - reg 27A — customs credit facility; Credit Facility Bond Form 142; seven-day deferment; qualifying conditions. - reg 28 — security for removal in bond: Form 121 bond or Form 122 + deposit ≥ duty. - reg 31(a)(ii)/(c) — clearing-agent licensing: outstanding RIB/RIT acquitted; Form 121 RT bond at each transit-originating port (Section 83). - reg 35–40 / 41–45 — transit sheds (Form 133 bond) and container depots (Form 130 bond); appointed under Sections 18/19. - reg 60 — goods in transit: first-port entry; ship/air/train/road conditions; seals not broken except at licensed depot; three-day export; specified routes; ten-day abandonment; 24-hour accident notice; seizure + level-7 on breach. - reg 76 — re-warehousing / removal in bond to another port; three-day re-entry. - reg 79–81 — export in bond of warehoused goods; responsibility for duty until acquittal; "In Bond" marking. - reg 148 — entry for removal in bond within Zimbabwe (excise). - reg 173–178 — licence fee US$100; accounting fee US$10/BoE; clearance fee; surcharge 2%/day; FOB de minimis US$20; interest 35% p.a. - Statutory Instrument 256 of 2000 — Customs and Excise (Ports of Entry and Routes) Order. - Statutory Instrument 203 of 2022 — Customs and Excise Tariff Notice / Tariff Handbook (HS 2022): line 6109.10.00 cotton T-shirts 40% + US$3/kg; heading 8703 motor cars 40%.

International instruments - WCO Revised Kyoto Convention — Specific Annex E (Transit), Chapter 1 (Customs transit): goods in Customs transit not subject to duties/taxes on prescribed conditions and security; acquittal on evidence of arrival. - WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement — Article 11 (Freedom of Transit). - SADC Protocol on Trade and COMESA Treaty — regional transit corridors and harmonised regional transit documentation (T1 / Form 30A family); COMESA RCTG Carnet regional guarantee scheme. - One-Stop Border Posts — Chirundu (first in Africa) and Beitbridge.

Case law - No on-point Zimbabwean transit-diversion decision in the source set; the area is governed by Sections 83 and 234 and regs 27, 28, 60, 80, with appeals to the Fiscal Appeal Court [Chapter 23:05]. - Non-binding persuasive authority (suretyship co-extensiveness; strict construction of duty-suspension/relief; classification of in-transit goods): South African SCA line, and Thomas Barlow & Sons 1970 (2) SA 660 (A) and Commissioner v IBM 1985 (4) SA 852 (A) [citations flagged VERIFY, carried from earlier modules].

ZIMRA guidance - ZIMRA Customs Procedure Codes (ASYCUDA World) for removal-in-bond and transit [exact CPC strings VERIFY]; ZIMRA Rates of Exchange for Customs Purposes (fortnightly) for currency conversion; ZIMRA Public Notices on transit, electronic cargo tracking, and OSBP operations.