No Duty Hike on Office Paper. A Sector Probe Instead

ITAC said no. The Minister agreed. The rates on uncoated office paper do not move.

In a media release dated 5 October 2026, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (ITAC) said it had completed its reconsideration of an application by Mondi South Africa (Pty) Ltd for an increase in the ordinary customs duty on certain uncoated paper and paperboard. These are products used mainly for office printing, photocopying and conversion. The Commission recommended no increase. Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Parks Tau approved that recommendation.

In the same step, the Minister asked ITAC to run a sector-wide investigation into the paper and paper products industry, and to recommend trade policy instruments that can drive the domestic industry towards sustainability and resilience. Full details sit in Notice 4174 of 2026 and Report 679.

That is two things, not one. The refusal is final for this application. The sector probe has only just been requested.

What Mondi Asked For

Report 679 covers "other paper and paperboard, not containing fibres obtained by a mechanical or chemi-mechanical process or of which not more than 10 per cent by mass of the total fibre content consists of such fibres." In plain terms: A4 copy paper and uncoated fine paper reels for printing and converting.

Three tariff lines. Two different asks.

• 4802.56.90 (A4 paper): General rate from 10% ad valorem to 20% ad valorem.
• 4802.55.20 and 4802.57.20 (reels and related formats): from free of duty to 20% ad valorem, through the creation of additional 8-digit tariff subheadings.

The report's requested-tariff table shows how that would have worked. SARS proposed two new subheadings, 4802.55.15 and 4802.57.15, for paper of 55 g/m² to 90 g/m² in rolls or strips wider than 150 mm, at 20% under General and Mercosur. Free under EU/UK, EFTA, SADC and AfCFTA. Those subheadings were a proposal. They were not created.

Why ITAC Said No

This is not a first pass. Report 679 says the Commission first considered the application on 9 November 2021. The then Minister referred it back for further investigation, asking ITAC to look at post-COVID trade statistics and market conditions. Report 679 is the answer to that referral. The report itself is dated 23 July 2025, signed by Chief Commissioner Ayabonga Cawe. The outcome was made public this week.

The reasoning comes down to four points.

The bound rate. The recommendation cites "the WTO bound rate levels" directly. The report's tariff section notes the WTO bound rate on 4802.55.20 and 4802.57.20 is 5%. A 20% ask on those lines sits well above that.

The wrong column. ITAC found no prima facie evidence that Mondi is under pressure from imports under the General column. On A4, total imports grew their SACU market share from 7% to 13% over 2021 to 2024. The EU's share of those imports rose from 40% in 2021 to almost 50% by 2024, mainly from Portugal. EU/UK paper on 4802.56.90 already enters free of duty. A higher General rate does not touch it. ITAC's words: a duty increase "will not be effective in assisting the Applicant but would rather have a cost-raising effect."

Reels are not losing ground to imports. Import volumes of converting reels fell by an average of 21% over 2021 to 2024. Import share of the domestic market moved only from 10% to 12%. Mondi held a price advantage against General-column reel imports over 2022 to 2024.

Downstream objected. Most interested parties opposed the application. Only Sappi supported it. Objectors included printers, converters and publishers. Some argued Mondi does not make certain grades they import, such as 40 to 60 g/m² package insert paper.

Mondi's case was real. The report records falling demand, rising fibre costs, commercial downtime of 10,000 tons in 2020 and 1,400 tons in 2021 on its only remaining uncoated fine paper machine, and the sustainability of the Merebank mill. ITAC did not dispute the pressure. It disputed that a General-rate tariff was the tool.

What It Means for the Invoice

Nothing changes on the entry today. There is no Schedule 1 amendment.

A4 under 4802.56.90 stays at 10% General and Mercosur, 5% AfCFTA, free under EU/UK, EFTA and SADC. Reels under 4802.55.20 and copy-paper formats under 4802.57.20 stay free of duty across the columns in Report 679's tariff table. The proposed 4802.55.15 and 4802.57.15 lines do not exist. Do not classify to them.

If a buyer, converter or printer had built a 20% contingency into 2026 or 2027 paper pricing, take it out for this application. Importers of reels from Indonesia, China and the UAE, which Report 679 names as the main General-column sources, keep the free rate.

The risk has moved, not gone. ITAC said trade remedies, anti-dumping and/or safeguard duties, "may constitute more appropriate measures, should evidence of injurious import competition emerge in future." The report goes further: the more appropriate instrument for EU imports would be a safeguard or anti-dumping measure. Those instruments can reach EU-origin paper that sits free of ordinary duty today. They need their own application, their own investigation, and their own gazette. None has been announced for these lines.

Separate the Clocks

1. Report 679: closed. No increase on 4802.55.20, 4802.56.90 or 4802.57.20. Approved by the Minister. Notice 4174 of 2026.
2. The sector-wide paper and paper products investigation: requested by the Minister. No initiation notice, scope, product list or timeline has been published with this outcome. ITAC's homepage also carries a 21 September 2026 Radio 702 interview with Cawe on an upcoming review of the tariff structure and trade remedy measures for paper and paper products. Watch for the formal notice.
3. Any future trade remedy on paper: not started. ITAC flagged it as the better route. No anti-dumping or safeguard application on these products has been announced.

Do not mix them. A refusal today is not a promise of free paper next year.

Our Take

1. Keep current rates in the landed-cost model. 4802.56.90 at 10% General. 4802.55.20 and 4802.57.20 free. That is the tariff today and after this decision.
2. Drop any 20% scenario tied to the Mondi application. It was refused. The 8-digit split SARS proposed was not created.
3. Check origin on A4 entries. Report 679 says the import growth is EU-led, mainly Portugal, and EU/UK paper on 4802.56.90 already enters free. If you are claiming EU/UK preference, keep the origin paperwork clean. That is where any future remedy would aim.
4. Watch for the sector investigation notice. It covers paper and paper products broadly, not just these three lines. Converters, printers and packaging buyers should be ready to comment when it opens.
5. Treat a trade remedy as the live risk, not a tariff hike. ITAC has told the industry, twice in one outcome, that anti-dumping or safeguards are the better tool. If one is lodged on uncoated fine paper, preference columns will not shield the importer.