{"id":867213,"date":"2026-07-23T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=867213"},"modified":"2026-07-23T12:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T10:16:16","slug":"authorities-coming-after-online-purchases-and-couriers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/internet\/867213\/authorities-coming-after-online-purchases-and-couriers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Authorities coming after online purchases and couriers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has partnered with the Border Management Authority (BMA) to target illicit goods entering the country through online purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partnership follows the two groups’ meeting this week to discuss ways to strengthen border protection against unsafe, non-compliant, or illicit goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This meeting led to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the NCC and BMA, focusing on increasing border security operations targeting goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe MoU provides a mechanism to strengthen the protection of consumers against unsafe, non-compliant or illicit goods entering the South African market through ports of entry and border areas,\u201d the two groups said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To strengthen border protection, the two groups will conduct joint inspections and enforcement operations, share information, and coordinate public awareness initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chief concern of the NCC is imports related to e-commerce purchases as well as courier and postal shipments.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NCC said identifying fraud-related activities associated with these industries would be a priority for the newly formed partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International online retailers, such as Temu and Shein, have seen massive growth in their popularity in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These e-commerce sites offer South Africans a wide variety of goods at incredibly low prices compared to similar products in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, international online retailers have increasingly become associated with scams and fraudulent transactions in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African customers order items online through international e-commerce sites, and are sometimes left with a product that is not what was advertised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These online stores do not follow the same advertising and product laws as South African companies, making it difficult for citizens to resolve these issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Products purchased from overseas companies may also not comply with South Africa\u2019s health and safety regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although products may be legal overseas, all imports into South Africa have to comply with the country\u2019s rules and regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partnership will also strengthen regulatory compliance and support effective border management strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NCC said this new partnership is vital for reducing the number of unsafe and illegal goods in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The NCC has identified the BMA as a strategic partner in curbing the proliferation of unsafe, illicit and non-compliant products into the South African consumer market,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crackdown on goods entering the country<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The partnership is also targeting specific products that are increasingly entering the country through South Africa\u2019s commercial ports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include medication, cigarettes, and food products that are deemed unsafe by South African regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The partnership will also target unsafe and counterfeit goods, which are increasingly entering South African markets through the country\u2019s ports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOfficials will work closely with the NCC to analyse product labels, barcodes and other authentication features to determine the legitimacy, safety and quality of goods,\u201d the BMA said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe working session with the NCC and the milestone of signing an MOU was imperative as a step in improving integrated border management and protecting the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recent study, economist Frans Cronje said smuggling operations for cigarettes and counterfeit goods account for a large portion of South Africa’s illicit economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His recent study, Shadow State Rising, discussed the illicit economy in South Africa and what efforts should be made to address it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that illegal tobacco products represent over R33 billion in losses for South Africa’s economy every year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said a key method for targeting these economic losses would be through strengthened port security and cooperative efforts from South African agencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Consumer Commission has launched a new partnership to tackle dodgy online products being couriered into South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":765185,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2080239253934461104","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9882],"tags":[25892,25893,7347,201],"class_list":["post-867213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","tag-border-management-authority","tag-memorandum-of-understanding","tag-national-consumer-commission","tag-online-shopping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867213"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867223,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867213\/revisions\/867223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/765185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}