Revenue Service Loses Camera Case Appeal

The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has lost its appeal against a ruling that prohibited the agency from installing cameras in tobacco factories to monitor production and prevent tax evasion, reports The Herald.

Earlier this year, Bozza Tobacco and the Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA), representing several smaller tobacco producers, won an interim interdict preventing the SARS from attempting to install cameras in tobacco facilities.

The FITA argued that this constituted an “unjustified violation of the right to privacy and property.”

In addition, critics fear that if the SARS is given the right to permanently surveil tobacco producers, it might then impose the same rule on other sectors of the economy, such as clothing, gold and fuel.

In its appeal, the SARS argued that it needed 24-hour surveillance to counter the illicit trade in tobacco products that has resulted in rampant tax evasion.

The Pretoria High Court ruled that the SARS had failed to address whether its appeal was in the interests of justice. It had previously been found that the SARS had not followed the exact prescripts of the Customs and Excise Act when formulating the rule that would allow it to install surveillance cameras.

The main case against the SARS is still to be decided by the Pretoria High Court and may ultimately go to the Constitutional Court for a decision, given the constitutional issues raised regarding the rights to privacy, dignity and property.