HS Code 8527.99 — Other | South Africa Import & Export

Getting HS 8527.99 wrong doesn’t cost you duty — it costs you an ICASA type-approval stop at Cape Town or OR Tambo that can hold a container for weeks. In 2024 SA imported USD 1.15 million of HS 852799 across 81,449 units (UN Comtrade, reporter ZAF, HS 852799, 2024), with China and the United States the dominant sources.

What this HS code covers

HS 8527.99 is the residual line inside heading 85.27 — “reception apparatus for radio-broadcasting” — for sets that don’t fall into one of the named subheadings. It is not for pocket radios (8527.12), motor-vehicle radios (8527.21 / 8527.29), combined radio-and-sound-recording units (8527.91), or clock radios (8527.92). What lands in 8527.99 is everything else that receives a radio signal: domestic bedside and kitchen radios that don’t fit the other splits, marine VHF receivers, aviation airband receivers and scanners, ham and amateur receivers, broadcast-monitoring equipment, and commercial scanners.

South Africa breaks the subheading into two 8-digit lines that matter for excise — 8527.99.10 for “Domestic apparatus” and 8527.99.90 for “Other” (the commercial and professional split).

One critical exclusion: two-way radios that transmit as well as receive — handheld PMR446 walkie-talkies, business-band radios, marine VHF transceivers — do NOT belong here. They sit in HS 8517.69. If your invoice says “two-way radio” or “transceiver”, you are in the wrong chapter.

South African trade picture

South Africa imported USD 1,151,651 of HS 852799 in 2024 across 81,449 units (UN Comtrade, reporter ZAF, HS 852799, 2024). Top sources by value: China at USD 630,639 (54.8%), the United States at USD 325,646 (28.3%), Malaysia at USD 81,067 (7.0%) and France at USD 45,359 (3.9%). Net weight is not reported by the SA reporter for 2024 on this line.

The 2024 figure is sharply down on prior years — 2022 imports were USD 5.82 million and 2023 imports were USD 5.75 million (UN Comtrade, 2022–2024). The drop is driven almost entirely by US-origin imports falling from USD 4.36 million in 2023 to USD 326k in 2024, consistent with the end of a one-off SA Government procurement cycle. China is the only origin with consistent year-on-year volume and should be treated as the structural import base.

On the export side, SA shipped USD 1.93 million of HS 852799 in 2024, with Germany, Botswana and Kenya the top destinations — SA functions as a regional re-export node into SADC for radio reception equipment.

Duties and VAT

Customs duty on HS 8527.99 is free across the board. SARS Schedule 1 Part 1 (header date 2026-05-15) confirms both 8-digit splits — 8527.99.10 “Domestic apparatus” and 8527.99.90 “Other” — return “free” on the General column and on every preferential column (EU-UK EPA, EFTA-SACU, SADC, MERCOSUR, AfCFTA). Because the MFN rate is already zero, claiming preferential origin saves you nothing on duty; do not waste paperwork producing EUR.1 or SADC certificates on this line.

VAT is 15% on the Added Tax Value, which is customs value uplifted by 10% plus any duty, ad valorem excise and anti-dumping duty. On a duty-free, excise-free line that comes out to a 16.5% landed-cost uplift over FOB customs value.

The ad valorem excise is where the 8-digit choice bites. Schedule 1 Part 2B, tariff item 124.70.13, applies a 9% ad valorem excise to HS 8527.99.10 “Domestic apparatus” — your bedside radios, kitchen radios, residual home broadcast receivers (SARS Schedule 1 Part 2B, tariff item 124.70.13, 2025). HS 8527.99.90 “Other” is not in Part 2B and carries no ad valorem. The split is the fiscal decision on this line.

On a R10,000 FOB customs value consignment:

The delta is R1,035 per R10,000 FOB customs value. SARS post-clearance audit will reclassify obvious household radios from .90 to .10 and back-charge the 9% plus penalties.

Documents and compliance

The clearance file for HS 8527.99 is heavier than the duty rate suggests, because the gate is ICASA, not SARS. Section 35(1) of the Electronic Communications Act 36 of 2005 prohibits the use, supply, sale or hire of any electronic communications equipment that has not been approved by the Authority. The Equipment Type Approval Regulations published in Government Gazette 36785 of 26 August 2013, regulation 3(1), make all equipment used in electronic communications subject to type approval “unless explicitly exempted by the Authority”. There is no published blanket exemption for receive-only apparatus. ICASA grants exemption letters case by case — and you must apply before shipping, not after the container is stuck at the port.

Documents typically required for a HS 8527.99 clearance:

• Commercial invoice with full technical description (model, frequency range, whether transmit-capable, transmit power if any)
• Packing list and bill of lading or air waybill
• ICASA Letter of Authority (LOA) for the model, or an ICASA exemption letter in writing
• Manufacturer’s declaration of conformity and test reports from an accredited lab
• Proof of payment of the ICASA Type Approval fee (from R5,109 per RF model, subject to annual CPI uplift under regulation 10(3) of Gazette 36785)
• For SOLAS-listed marine safety equipment only: SAMSA homologation (not required for a plain marine VHF receiver)

ICASA quotes 30 days to process a complete type-approval application (icasa.org.za/pages/type-approval, accessed 2026-05-18). The published equipment register is not currently a live searchable database — to check whether a model is already approved, email [email protected] directly.

Common mistakes

Three failures account for most of the trouble on this line.

First, importers classify two-way radios in 8527.99 because the invoice says “radio”. Anything that transmits — handhelds, walkie-talkies, marine VHF transceivers, aviation comms — belongs in HS 8517.69, because 8517.62.20 explicitly excludes two-way radios. The fiscal hit is small (both are 0% duty) but the ICASA technical file is completely different and the clearance officer will flag the mismatch.

Second, importers classify domestic broadcast receivers into 8527.99.90 “Other” to escape the 9% ad valorem on 8527.99.10. A post-clearance audit reclassifies them and back-charges the excise plus penalties.

Third, importers assume “it’s just a receiver, no ICASA needed” and ship without an LOA or an exemption letter. SARS will not release the consignment, storage fees accrue at R30–R150 per cubic metre per day, and ICASA’s 30-day clock only starts when your application is complete.

NRCS Letters of Authority are not required for HS 8527.99 — ICASA has exclusive jurisdiction under section 35 of the Electronic Communications Act — so do not let a clearing agent send you down that path.

How JLog handles it

JLog clears HS 8527.99 shipments through Cape Town and OR Tambo and handles the freight from origin to door. For RF apparatus we check the ICASA type-approval status of the model before the goods leave the supplier, so the LOA or exemption letter is on the file before the container arrives. We sit the 8-digit classification decision (Domestic vs Other) with you and the supplier’s technical sheet — not after the fact with a SARS auditor. We arrange the SARS clearance, the VAT settlement, road transport from the port, and warehouse hand-off from our Woodstock facility at Unit 12C, 10 Railway Street.

Two-way radio on the invoice? Wrong chapter. Bedside kitchen radio in .90? Wrong split. ICASA paperwork after the container lands? Too late.

Get a quote for shipping HS 8527.99: jlog.co.za/get-a-quote