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FREIGHT & TRADING WEEKLY

For import / export decision-makers FRIDAY 22 February 2019 NO. 2332

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The Justice Project South Africa (JPSA) is pulling out all the stops to prevent the national roll-out of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Bill in its current form.

JPSA chairman Howard Dembovsky told FTW last week that he would be writing to President Cyril Ramaphosa urging him not to sign the bill into law after parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport last week accepted the final amendments to the

Bill which will now go to the National Assembly and will then be ready to be signed into law by the president.

“If this legislation is rolled out nationally it will be a disaster of epic proportions,” said Dembovsky.

“The amendments don’t address the unconstitutional issues of the existing Aarto Act – and in fact worsen them,” he said.

One of the biggest concerns around the bill, shared by legal bodies and industry, is the complete removal of the courts from the Aarto process,

making it compulsory to make written representations to the Road Traffic Infringement Authority (RTIA), which is funded almost entirely by revenue collected by traffic fines.

“The entire Aarto Act is predicated on the presumption of guilt rather than innocence,” said Dembovsky. “Everything within that framework is aimed at finalising matters without giving the person the opportunity to challenge the accusers.”

Dembovsky told FTW he had instituted litigation in

the High Court regarding the constitutionality of 34 provisions of the existing Aarto Act, only a few of which had been addressed in any way by the amendment bill.

“What’s wrong with the legislation, and the bill makes it worse, is that it takes away your right to be tried in a court of law and replaces it with a tribunal – which is a part-time tribunal. What’s more you have to pay a fee if you want to appeal the decision of the representations officer.”

“It’s a very sad day for the country because the amended

Aarto bill wants to trample on the common law constitutional rights of every citizen in the country,” said Road Freight Association CEO Gavin Kelly. “How can it be right for the state to prosecute you when it makes it impossible to defend yourself other than in the High Court,” he added.

Dembovsky was awaiting the outcome of his constitutional challenge at the time of writing – and he described the prospects for success as “very good”.

“If it’s rolled out nationally,

Aarto critics act with urgency to force a stay of execution

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Investigations were under way to determine the cause of the fire that engulfed a trawler while it was moored at the Port of Durban last Thursday, South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) spokesman, Tebogo Ramatjie, told FTW.

Toxic emissions filling

the hull of the trawler, the Tropical, initially prevented emergency workers from gaining entry to the vessel.

Only after the emissions had cleared enough for emergency personnel to go on board was it found that six of the boat’s crew had succumbed from presumed smoke inhalation.

Ramatjie said it would take some time to “find out what exactly happened because it’s a multi-investigation involving Dirco and the relevant authorities of Mozambique and Portugal”.

The Tropical was in port for repair work at the time it caught fire.

Multi-agency investigation looks into Durban port fire

Firefighters battle the blaze in the Port of Durban.

2 | FRIDAY February 22 2019

DUTY CALLS

These statements have been edited because of space constraints. For the full versions go to ftwonline.co.za. Note: This is a non-comprehensive statement of the law. No liability can be accepted for errors and omissions.

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Riaan de Lange (dutycalls@nowmedia.co.za)FREIGHT & TRADING WEEKLY

Publisher Anton Marsh

EditorialEditor Joy OrlekDeputy Editor Eugene GoddardAssistant Editor Liesl VenterJhb Correspondent Adele MackenziePhotographer Shannon Van Zyl

CorrespondentsAfrica/ Port Elizabeth Ed Richardson Tel: (041) 582 3750Swaziland James Hall

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Screws safeguard – Retrospective effectOn 15 February the South African Revenue Service (Sars) announced a retrospective amendment, with effect from 03 August 2018 to 02 August 2019, of safeguard item 260.03/7318.15.39/01.08, in Part 3 of Schedule No 2 to the Customs and Excise Act, 1964, to implement a safeguard duty of 50.54% on other screws, fully threaded with hexagon heads (excluding those of stainless steel), classifiable in tariff subheading 7318.15.39.

The safeguard duty is not applicable to all countries. If you are interested in the countries excluded, this information is contained in Customs Buzz. The safeguard duty also does not apply to imports under rebate items 301.00 to 399.00, and 401.00 to 499.00 (excluding rebate items 317.06/00.00/03.00 and 460.17/00.00/03.00).

The reasoning for the safeguard duty is contained

in the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) Report No 596

Sugar Variable Tariff Formula amendmentSars on 15 February announced an increase in the rate of customs duty on sugar, classifiable in tariff subheadings 1701.12 (beet sugar), 1701.13 (cane sugar specified in subheading note 2 to this chapter), 1701.14 (other cane sugar), 1701.91 (containing added flavouring or colouring matter), and 1701.99 (other), from 369.57c/kg to 401.79c/kg, in terms of the existing variable tariff formula, in Part 1 of Schedule No 1 to the Act, 1964.

The reasoning for the increase in the rate of customs duty is contained in Itac Minute M13/2018.

Customs and Excise Act, 1964 – Rule updateSars on 11 February announced that the rules to the act, 1964 had been

updated and now included rule amendments up to and including 08 February. The schedule to the rules to the Act, 1964 (excluding the forms) was last updated on 15 September 2017 .

Excise duty payment datesThe payment and levy submission dates of excise duty accounts for 2019 have been released by Sars and relate to beer, fuel, environmental levy products, wine, vermouth, other fermented beverages and spirits, tobacco, and traditional African beer.

Part-shipment FAQsSars has published Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on part-shipment. A part-shipment occurs where a consignment of goods, cleared on a single customs clearance declaration (SAD 500), is transported over a single land border post on more than one truck due to considerations relating to size, weight, volume etc.

WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement turns twoWorld Trade Organisation (WTO) members, at a meeting of the Committee on Trade Facilitation held from 12 to 13 February, took stock of progress in the implementation of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which turns two on 22 February. Members called for the timely fulfilment of commitments and discussed efforts to help each other carry out the FTA.

Duty Calls’ WatchlistComment on provisions of the Customs Duty Act, 2014 and the Customs Control Act, 2014 is due by 09 March.

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Eugene Goddard

As reports filtered through that Eskom was beginning to gain the upper hand on faulty new generators and failing older ones, and the country crossed its fingers that the load of punishing power outages was about to be lessened, energy analyst Chris Yelland warned that South Africa shouldn’t keep its hopes up.

Echoing President Cyril Ramaphosa’s comments in parliament that “there’s no silver bullet for the myriad problems Eskom is facing”,

Yelland added: “I expect that within the next few months we are going to intermittently veer between load shedding and no load shedding.”

And since speaking to FTW, startling figures have been released by renewable power supply firm Enertrag about what the rapidly ramped-up stages of load shedding are costing the country.

Using a metric called “cost of undelivered energy”, the firm’s South African director, Tobias Bischof-Niemz, said around R80 to R90 was lost to production for every kilowatt per hour that was not delivered,

amounting to about R1bn per day at stage two.

But as the power utility buckled under flawed capacity, leading to at least nine out of 20 generators tripping, resulting

in an escalating loss of 4000 kilowatts –

40% of Eskom’s output – and

load shedding shot up,

Bischof-Niemz estimated that South Africa had lost at least R2bn in earnings for every day outages went to stage four.

Putting a different spin on things, Econometrix MD Azar Jammine said about 20% of economic activity was lost during severe outages.

In real terms it means 0.1% of South Africa’s GDP goes down the tubes every time Eskom falters and we go to stage four.

And if it means anything for the power utility’s massive debt burden of R420bn, Eskom only loses around R1bn in revenue for every month of load shedding, compared to the R1bn a day it costs the country if it’s lucky enough not to exceed stage two.

For industry it means greater reliance on alternative power sources that, said Yelland, “cost around five times more than the electricity we get from Eskom”.

Essentially it means passed-down costs and although it’s expensive, “it pays to have additional generation supply measures in place because

without it we might as well close up and go home”.

Yelland’s own company, EE Publishers, “would be done for if we didn’t have a diesel generator that automatically kicks in every time Eskom starts to load shed”.

FTW assistant editor Liesl Venter, who works from Cape Town, sketched a clear picture of the crippling effect load

shedding has on her output.

“First off, the scheduling is totally random. It jumps from stage one to three and four so there’s no way of planning your working schedule.

“When you have two outages during

working hours, as was the case last week, that’s six hours out of an eight-hour working day which, in a deadline-driven industry, can’t be made up tomorrow.

“For articles that are not time-sensitive it means waking up at 4am when the power is on. But there are some things that you can only doduring working hours.”

“And to think it could all have been avoided,” said Yelland.

“If the Medupi and Kusile power stations were delivered on time as planned in 2014, and all 12 units were working without the current design flaws adding to old generation capacity that’s persistently breaking down because of maintenance issues, we would not have had load shedding today.”

Of course it’s not all just Eskom’s fault.

Apart from years of scandalised, corruption-laden mismanagement by the likes of Gupta-stooge Brian Molefe, it emerged last week that diesel intended to keep open-gas turbines going was delayed in the Port of Mossel Bay.

The much-needed delivery to PetroSA, blocked by another vessel in the harbour, is said to have contributed to Eskom’s escalating woes that led to the sudden stage four spike on Monday, February 11.

“Either way, load shedding is here to stay,” Yelland said.

He warned that we should all light a candle for the utility’s debt repayment deadline. If it defaults come April, the international investment community will pull the plug on Eskom.

Experts quantify astronomical cost of load shedding

If the Medupi and Kusile power stations were delivered on time we would not have had load shedding today.– Chris Yelland

“

Undertakings relating to the breaking up of Eskom into three entities made by president Cyril Ramaphosa in his 2019 State of the Nation Address (Sona) could switch on investment by the private sector in a number of power projects across the country.

“The DA has been pushing for Eskom to be split up into

two entities – one to generate electricity and the other to distribute and transmit. This will allow greater competition in the energy sector, ensuring prices are lowered for all South Africans,” said Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane in his reaction to Sona 2019.

“Moreover, well-functioning metropolitan municipalities

must be allowed to source clean, renewal energy from independent power producers. Only these steps will transform the energy sector, stabilise supply, and lower costs,” he added.

If the independent power producers are attracted back to South Africa there will be an increase in the demand for project cargo services.

But the industry should not be holding its breath.

Plans to split generation from distribution date back to 2012, when the African National Congress introduced the Independent System Market Operator (ISMO) Bill.

It was buried soon after then president Jacob Zuma mentioned it in his 2014

Sona address.Ramaphosa says the first

priority is transmission: “Of particular and immediate importance is the entity to manage an independent state-owned transmission grid combined with the systems operator and power planning, procurement and buying functions,” he said.– Ed Richardson

Second time round for energy-related project cargo

4 | FRIDAY February 22 2019

TERMINALS & DEPOTS

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Lyse Comins

The big five international container carriers are expected to control

almost 60% of the world’s container ship fleet by 2021.

This is a trend that will put pressure on African ports to up their performance and infrastructure development to accommodate larger vessels and fewer calls or face possible exclusion from the main shipping routes.

This warning was highlighted in Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ 2018 report, ‘Strengthening Africa’s Gateways’, which noted research by Drewry Research, that financial duress in the shipping industry had brought

about a trend of carrier consolidations that would impact not only shippers but consignees, ports and terminals.

“It is not only large carriers that are consolidating into larger entities. It is also expected that medium size carriers will follow the wave of mergers and acquisitions.

The trend has also led to large container carriers acquiring their own terminal operating companies or buying shares in global terminal operators.

“Container carriers are therefore starting to reshape their network strategy around their own assets, which include ever-larger ships and their own ports infrastructure. The consolidation wave results

Pressure on African ports and terminals to cater for larger vesselsAn increase in vessel calls at

the Port of Beira has ramped up expectations for an increase in export volumes through the Beira corridor in 2019.

According to Jonathan Middleton, CEO – warehousing for J&J Africa, this is further supported by an expected increase in the movement of bulk minerals such as chrome from Zimbabwe.

And with volumes on the increase the focus this year for the Independent Beira Logistics Terminals & Service (IBLT&S) will be on improving HSES standards within the facilities.

“We are committed to the safety of our employees, contractors and clients and are continuously managing and identifying risks or potential risks in order to prevent accidents,” said Middleton. “We have developed an internal

HSES management system that is based on the newly introduced ISO45001 industry standard. We conduct biannual internal audits to ensure we are continuously measuring the performance of our facilities and ensuring action plans are in place to mitigate any unsafe practices that have been identified.”

Commenting on some of the challenges on the corridor, Middleton said the design of the single window customs system in particular was problematic as it did not allow for cargo arriving in bond or leaving in bond from the hinterland or to the port to be acquitted at the terminal/depot.

“It has to be done at the central headquarters of customs in port which means all declarations need to be acquitted at this point causing extra delays,” he explained. “Since each bonded terminal/depot has a dedicated customs

official, they could develop the system so that these officials at the depots could acquit declarations of cargo entering or exiting the facilities.”

Middleton said they were constantly lobbying with customs to amend the system and create functionality for their officials to acquit customs declarations at the depots.– Liesl Venter

Safety high on the agenda for Beira facility

We have developed an internal HSES management system.– Jonathan Middelton“

FRIDAY February 22 2019 | 5

TERMINALS & DEPOTS

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Pressure on African ports and terminals to cater for larger vessels

Port ownership and service models are now gravitating towards greater private sector involvement.– Christie Viljoen

“in fewer customers for ports and terminals.”

PWC said the trend meant that carriers would increasingly put pressure on African ports and terminals to invest in new equipment and to accept larger ships, while driving down port charges.

“Should African ports fail to meet these challenges, they may be excluded from main shipping routes and be avoided by large efficient lines, driving up import and export costs,” the report said.

However, PWC noted that most ports were too shallow to accommodate even the ships that were currently being phased out on the busiest sea routes

and that deepening ports to accommodate large ships should be a priority.

“Shipping lines can use their balance sheets to finance port expansion and improve their efficiencies, provided it is in their interests. Attracting investment from lines and other major ports should therefore be a priority,” PWC said.

PWC manager and economist Christie Viljoen added that port ownership

and service models were now gravitating towards greater private sector

involvement.According

to the report hub ports, which have developed in most parts of the world in response to greater maritime freight consolidation, are another trend in African port development.

“PwC’s analysis shows that, based on the degree of port centrality – shipping liner connectivity – the

amount of trade passing through a port, and the size of the hinterland, Durban (South Africa), Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire) and Mombasa (Kenya) are most likely to ultimately emerge as the major hubs in southern Africa, West Africa and East Africa, respectively,” PWC said.

TERMINALS & DEPOTS

6 | FRIDAY February 22 2019

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The implementation of new and improved safety standards is a top priority at

terminals and depots across South Africa – and speed restrictions top the list.

According to Lenny Naidoo, national product specialist for Konecranes container handling equipment at the EIE Group, many managers at terminals and depots are introducing speed limitations as part of the new package of safety standards.

“Not only is this one way of reducing risk on sites, but it also reduces wear and tear on equipment,” said Naidoo.

“There has been a global movement to be compliant with speed restrictions,” said Naidoo.

One of the major challenges has been the lack of tools available to monitor and control the speed of traffic moving through terminals and depots.

The company recently introduced Konecranes Work Zone, a new service offering safety assistance for lifting trucks.

It's a suite of location-based services designed to improve the safety of lift truck operations, especially in busy, high-traffic environments.

According to Naidoo, Konecranes Work Zone uses

geofencing, a new safety and yard efficiency product which uses GPS technology to create virtual fences around real-world areas. These areas can

then be used to trigger user defined alerts – this can be information about height limitations, speed limits or other safety matters. The alerts can be displayed on the driver’s display or by SMS or email to chosen recipients.

“It includes different applications of geofencing,” said Naidoo. “This is a big step for the lift truck industry and shows the future of Smart Connected Lift Trucks.”

New service offers safety assistance The Beira Logistics Terminal

(BLT) has added 8000 tons of capacity to one of its bulk fertiliser warehouses, bringing total capacity to 70 000 tons and enabling the facility to service larger vessels, according to Jonathan Middleton, CEO – warehousing at J&J Africa.

“Our state of the art minerals shed is also now fully operational with four weighing stations fully integrated into our management system which means there is increased efficiency in getting last minute shipments packed and VGMs submitted to shipping lines.”

This, said Middleton, gave customers a lot more flexibility to ship cargo more quickly.

According to Middleton one of the big challenges in Beira has always been warehousing capacity – especially when it comes to fertiliser imports.

“Most of the cargo is shipped within a very short

period of time creating a lot of congestion in the port which in turn creates extra delays for our clients. It increases supply chain costs due to high demurrage bills. By adding capacity, we can now receive more cargo at a time in bulk, turning around our clients’ vessels more quickly and saving them money.”

The reason, he said, for adding a dedicated minerals warehouse was to build a specialised warehouse with a high level of security such as extensive CCTV coverage – especially over the weighing stations where individual weights are captured from the scale for reconciliation purposes later on.

“Our purpose-built “High Value Cargo” management system is updated in real time with minimal user input to minimise errors and it gives clients quicker access to information around what has been received.”

Fertiliser warehouse ramps up capacity

Konecranes Work Zone offers safety assistance for lifting trucks.– Lenny Naidoo

“

FRIDAY February 22 2019 | 7

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Bargain hunting for cheap alternatives to expensive car seat accessories for infants and minors could lead unsuspecting parents to buy unregulated products sold via e-commerce portals and Facebook, watch dog organisation for child road safety, Wheel Well, has warned.

More importantly, the NGO’s managing director, Peggie Mars, recently chose a public forum to accuse the National Regulator of Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) of dereliction of duty in not removing alleged illegal baby and child seats from South Africa’s market.

During a Q&A session that followed a recent presentation by NRCS CEO Edward Mamadise at the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mars said it had been known for several years by authorities tasked with policing the regulatory landscape that certain brands were not only hazardous to child safety but possibly lethal.

Whereas Mamadise focused on gaining support for the regulator during his speech, Mars struck a nerve with her comments and inquiries when she asked “how can we move forward and build trust that the products on the market are indeed correctly certified when you seem to do nothing about car seats that are not homologated (approved)?”

When Mars later spoke to FTW she said that Wheel Well had in its possession

an email from the general manager of the automotive division at the NRCS, Duncan Mutengwe, which confirmed that one of the brands Wheel Well had warned against for some time, did not appear on the regulator’s database for homologated child restraints.

Moreover, the brand in question appears to be selling well because it’s marketed using the appeal of a super hero – and compared to regulated brands such as Chicco and Bambino, sold for significantly less.

In addition, this particular seat is apparently manufactured to last for the duration of a child’s early years.

“For x amount of rand you can get a car seat that

you can use from nine to 36 kilograms. For parents who are poor this is the answer to their problems. But because the seat has not been homologated we don’t know

it’s safe or legal.”In two other instances

it was found that seats sold via a local portal called Happy Deals, also originating in China, had been marked down from R1600 to R829.

“It’s absolute nonsense,” said Mars.

“Not only are these seats illegal but you can have a look on eBay right now and you’ll find that they’re sold for around R350 to R450. So the supposed bargain in buying these seats is absolute bogus.”

Also, Mars claims that

these seats are sold without the necessary Letters of Authority, mandatory documents required to sell imported goods on the South African market.

“It begs the question: why have a regulator such as the NRCS if they’re not going to police their own specifications – not to mention that under the Road Traffic Act it’s illegal to use seats that are not homologated.”

In fairness to the NRCS, Mars indicated that some seats were new on the market and it took some time for the regulator to homologate the seats and update its database.

However, when seats remain off the list for longer than a year, and the list was last updated on January 15, “something is clearly wrong.

“Since at least 2014 we have been alerting the NRCS to brands that are being sold without the proper certification in place, but nothing gets done. They are still being sold.”

At the time of going to press FTW was still

waiting for comment from

the NRCS, particularly about information Mars shared about the regulator’s awareness that it was not acting against seats contravening compulsory specifications.

However, Mamadise told attendees at the JCCI presentation that the regulator was looking into the matter but could not share what it had found so far with the public, including Wheel Well.

He said the “danger in sharing sensitive information with the public is that some companies want to run out competitors because their motives are to close them out”.

In the meantime all Mars and her colleagues at Wheel Well can do is to warn parents to make sure that seats contain a red sticker with Economic Commission of Europe verification numbers, commonly referred to as ECE numbers, or preferably not to buy child seats online.

Attempts to reach Happy Deals for comment were unsuccessful.– Eugene Goddard

NRCS under fire over unregulated baby seats

Seats are sold without the necessary Letters of Authority.– Peggie Mars

“

LAST WEEK’S TOP STORIES

Eskom board scrambles as expert warns of ‘worse to come’Following implementation of stage 4 load shedding, Eskom’s board has launched an in-depth audit of the entire system.

Aarto gets parliamentary nodThe on-again-off-again Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Bill is one step closer to implementation.

‘SA exporters should leverage new trade initiatives in Germany’Germany has introduced new trade initiatives which South African exporters should take advantage of, according to the South African foreign economic representative in Germany, Jacob Moatshe.

Deliveries best from 10am in SA citiesTraffic congestion clears markedly from around 10am on weekdays in South Africa’s major cities, according to the INRIX 2018 Global Traffic Scorecard.

MSC Zoe estimated container losses continue to growInitial estimates of containers lost on board the container vessel MSC Zoe last month have been revised from 290 to around 345, according to Dutch maritime agency, Rijkswaterstaat.

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8 | FRIDAY February 22 2019

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Eugene Goddard

Clearing and forwarding agents have been urged to thoroughly familiarise themselves with the road transport specifications in respect of new regulations for the Reporting of Conveyances and Goods (RCG) that came into play on January 25.

According to Beyers Theron, acting chief officer for Customs & Excise at the SA Revenue Service (Sars), the recent roll-out of RCG’s 2nd phase is specifically aimed at ruling out any ambiguities related to the part-shipment of over-border goods.

“When a consignment of goods is carried across a land border post on more than one truck as a result of considerations relating to size, weight and volume, transporters will have to clearly note such shipments through RCG’s electronic Road Freight Manifest (e-RFM) system,” he said.

Through the use of its web-based “Customs Status Indicator”, transporters will have to specify, for example, how part shipments are split up by stating which sections of a consignment will be followed by a final shipment.

That way one manifest can be issued for a shipment that is freighted piecemeal.

However, Theron urged transporters to make sure that they complied with the

proverbial letter of the law of RCG.

“It is very important that road carriers report correctly in order to distinguish normal or full cargo movements from part shipments due to the manner in which part shipments will be administered.”

Where a broken up consignment has been released from a temporary storage facility, the general expectation is for glitch-free transit.

“Individual trucks carrying the goods in part shipment will be processed at the

border as and when they arrive where electronic arrival and exit messages will be generated for the exporter or clearing agent and the road carriers.”

In as much as clearing up any ambiguity about part- and complete shipments is concerned, Theron warned that “where

a consignment of goods to be imported or exported is carried to the border under a ‘proceed to border’ status, the trucks carrying the goods in part shipment are required to be presented together at the same border post for arrival processing”.

This is because the release status of a consignment is only communicated upon arrival of the full load of goods.

“Each truck will then be individually and electronically processed and in cases where all the trucks are not presented together for arrival processing, the trucks will not be permitted to enter the customs area.

“The implementation of the RCG automated part shipment management functionality went smoothly with more than 97% of cargo reporters submitting e-RFMs,” he said.

Eschewing earlier tough talk that RCG defaulters

would face penalties of R5000 per shipment, Theron added: “Sars has

embarked on a process of direct engagement with individual non-compliant reporters in its bid to push multi-

modal compliance to at least 90%.”

Sars has embarked on a process of direct engagement with individual non-compliant reporters.– Beyers Theron

“

e-RFM targets road freight ‘ambiguities’

Aarto critics act with urgency

it will cost a lot of money. And if it’s then found to have unconstitutional clauses they will have to revert to the Criminal Procedures Act and it will have cost the country billions of rand.”

He said they were asking the president to exercise some restraint until these matters had been decided. “If the president decides to sign it into law we will have no choice but to urgently interdict its national roll-out because the last thing the country needs is more wasteful expenditure.”

And while the demerit system may have an effect on the behaviour of some people, “it’s not a requirement that you take away every constitutional value that is enshrined in the constitution to implement it. You could do it by enacting regulations under the Road Traffic Act that would cause a points demerit system to come into play”.

Dembovsky believes that Aarto’s primary focus is not so much the points demerit system but rather finalising road traffic matters with minimum effort on the part of

the authorities while putting the maximum onus on you as a motorist to give reasons why they should not convict you.

In every other country in the world in which a points demerit system operates, they use the courts. “This is the only country that seeks to take road traffic fines and turn them into invoices,” said Dembovsky.

“Trying to stop bad traffic behaviour is a good thing,” said Kelly, “but using a system that will deprive people of their constitutional rights is not.

“We have been talking about this for the past couple of years and a number of associations, including ourselves, have lined up legal opinion. We are not opposed to road safety but this is unacceptable.”

Kelly’s plan of action mirrors that of JPSA. The first step, he said, would be to appeal to the president himself to ascertain whether he understands the implications on common law, which is the path that JPSA has taken.

“If that fails we’ll have to head for the courts which will be a costly exercise.”

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