Hs 7109 00 Base Metals Or Silver Clad | Import Duty South Africa | JLog

Gold-clad base metal sits in a regulatory grey zone — heavy enough to look like gold to a customs inspector, light enough on actual gold content to fall outside SADPMR licensing. In 2024, South Africa imported just USD 141,586 of it across 20.28 kg (UN Comtrade, reporter ZAF, HS 710900, 2024).

What this HS code covers

HS 7109.00 is the South African customs heading for base metals or silver clad with gold, in semi-manufactured form only. In plain terms: rolled-gold wire, gold-filled sheet, gold-clad strip, and the gold-bonded stock that jewellers and watchmakers cut, draw, or stamp into finished pieces. The heading covers a mechanically bonded gold layer — rolled, fused, or soldered onto a base-metal or silver core — and only in unfinished shapes such as bars, rods, wire, sheet, strip, tubes, and profiles.

Once the same material is worked into a finished chain, ring, or watch case, the goods move out of 7109 and into 7113 (articles of jewellery of precious metal). Solid gold (not clad) sits in heading 7108. Imitation jewellery with a gold layer of less than 1/20th by weight falls to 7117. The 1/20th-by-weight test is the operative classification rule per the WCO Harmonised System Explanatory Notes to heading 71.09 (WCO HS Explanatory Notes 2022, chapter 71).

South African trade picture

This is a thin trade line — read the numbers with that in mind. In 2024, South Africa imported USD 141,586 of HS 710900 across only 20.28 kg, drawn from eight named source countries (UN Comtrade, reporter ZAF, HS 710900, 2024).

The Republic of Korea dominated at 53.9% of value (USD 76,341 / 1.14 kg), with a unit value around USD 67,000 per kilogram — a profile consistent with thin gold-cladding on a low-mass carrier such as watch-bezel stock or gold-filled wire feedstock. Ireland followed at 17.4% (USD 24,690 / 1.5 kg), Italy at 12.8% (USD 18,075 / 1.98 kg) — the classic Italian gold-filled jewellery-wire supplier profile — Vietnam at 8.7%, and Japan at 3.7%.

The 2024 figure is markedly down on 2023, when imports reached USD 1.22 million across 184 kg — a drop of roughly 88% in value year on year. Because single shipments move the totals on a line this small, treat 2024 as directionally accurate rather than statistically robust. On the export side, South Africa shipped USD 146,280 of HS 710900 in 2024, with Thailand taking 73.9% by value (USD 108,097 / 7.92 kg).

Duties and VAT

The MFN tariff rate for HS 7109.00 is widely reflected as free (0%) in line with the UK and EU treatment of the same heading — the UK third-country duty for HS 7109.00.00 is 0.00% (UK Government Trade Tariff, accessed 2026-05-18). Most WTO members bind the heading at free because solid gold in heading 7108 is itself free almost everywhere. Verify the current SACU MFN rate against the SARS Tariff Determination Search at tdn.sars.gov.za before clearance.

VAT is 15% on the customs added-tax value (FOB customs value plus a 10% uplift plus any customs duty), under section 13(2) of the VAT Act. There is no standard VAT exemption identifiable for 7109.00. The valuation point matters here — the customs value must include the full fair market value of the gold layer, not just the supplier’s invoice price. Under-declaring the gold component to reduce the VAT base is a known SARS audit trigger.

Preferential rates: under the SACU–EU EPA and the SACU–UK EPA, chapter 71 is broadly liberalised and preference is generally free against an EUR.1 movement certificate, subject to the rules of origin (SACU–EU EPA Annex II). SADC, AGOA, and AfCFTA are not material on this line for SA imports given the current trade pattern.

Documents and compliance

The friction on HS 7109 entries is rarely the duty rate. It is proving that the goods are genuinely clad — gold layer over a base-metal or silver core in semi-manufactured form — rather than solid refined gold (7108) or finished jewellery (7113). Keep the paperwork on the gold layer in order, and most 7109 entries clear without referral.

Documents typically required:

• Commercial invoice, with the gold content specified in karat and as a percentage of total article mass
• Packing list
• Bill of lading or air waybill
• SAD 500 customs declaration
• Supplier’s mill-test certificate or assay certificate showing the gold layer mass as a percentage of the article mass
• Statement or marking confirming the goods are in semi-manufactured form (bar, rod, wire, sheet, strip, tube, profile) and not finished articles
• Karat marking on the gold layer where applicable
• Certificate of origin (EUR.1 if claiming SACU–EU or SACU–UK EPA preference)
• Importer’s customs code (registered with SARS Customs)

You do not need a Kimberley Process certificate. You do not need a SADPMR refining or beneficiation licence for HS 7109. Both points are explained below.

Common mistakes

The first trap is the Kimberley Process. The KPCS covers rough diamonds under heading 7102 only, and the South African Diamonds Act, 1986 implements the KPCS through SADPMR and the Diamond Exchange and Export Centre. Gold-clad base metal contains no diamond and falls outside the scheme entirely. Some clearing agents still reflexively request a KP certificate for any Chapter 71 entry — that request is wrong, and chasing the document will cost you days.

The second trap is the precious-metals licensing regime. SARB’s Currency and Exchanges Manual for Authorised Dealers (CEMAD) Section B.18(G)(i) states verbatim: “All applications for the importation of gold must be referred to the South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator” (SARB CEMAD, accessed 2026-05-18). But the Precious Metals Act, 2005 (Act No. 37 of 2005), Section 1 defines “refined precious metal” as “precious metal that has been refined to or beyond 99,9% purity” and “semi-fabricated precious metal” as that refined metal in sheet, tube, wire, granule, plate, strip, rod, or sponge form. Gold-clad base metal does not meet that 99.9% purity threshold — the core is base metal or silver — so HS 7109 sits outside the SADPMR licensing regime that captures unwrought and semi-fabricated refined gold. Keep an assay or gold-content declaration on file anyway, because that is exactly the document that separates a 7109 entry from a 7108 entry at examination.

The third trap is the VAT base. Pricing the gold layer at less than its fair market value to suppress VAT will trigger a SARS valuation review. Use the supplier’s gold-content declaration and an LBMA-benchmarked value for the gold layer.

The fourth trap is the 1/20th-by-weight threshold. If the gold layer is below 1/20th of total weight, the goods are not clad for tariff purposes — they are gilt or electroplated imitation jewellery in heading 7117, with a different duty and VAT profile.

How JLog handles it

JLog clears HS 7109 shipments through OR Tambo and Cape Town as standard Chapter 71 entries. We prepare the SAD 500, lodge the commercial invoice and assay certificate, and keep the gold-content declaration on the file so that if SARS Customs questions whether the goods are clad (7109), solid (7108), or imitation (7117), the supporting document is in hand at the counter rather than two days away by email. We arrange the freight inbound — air freight is usual on this line given the unit values — and handle delivery to your workshop or warehouse. Where you are claiming EPA preference on EU or UK origin stock, we lodge the EUR.1 and confirm the rules-of-origin position before the goods land.

If your clearing agent asks for a Kimberley Process certificate on a gold-clad entry, get a second opinion before you pay for one — it is not required, and the delay is on them, not on SARS.

Get a quote for shipping HS 7109.00: jlog.co.za/get-a-quote