Book Review: International tax-free trade zones and free ports. A comparative study of their principles and practices with three case studies

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Author: JP van Niekerk
• Pages: 408-410
• Citation: (1997) 9 SA Merc LJ 408
• Published date: 25 May 2019
• Date: 25 May 2019

408



(1997) 9 SA Mere LJ

reference to cases does make the law more interesting and relevant for students

and practitioners by helping to make legal principles easier to understand and

remember.

The division of the book into seven parts, though previously criticised, has been

retained, perhaps because the book purports to cover the syllabus suggested by

the Public Accountants' and Auditors' Board.

The easy style and new layout of

Business Transactions Law

have made the text

more accessible for students and practitioners. With clear headings and

subheadings, and lists of requirements, conditions and exceptions, Professor

Sharrock helps his readers to identify the components of a rule or principle at a

glance. Although several principles discussed in the book are complicated, the

author still manages to cover a wide variety of commercial topics succinctly. I

have no hesitation, therefore, in recommending this new edition of

Business

Transactions Law

to students of commercial law, and even to law students and

legal practitioners.

MARYLYN CHRISTIANSON

University of South Africa

International Tax-free Trade Zones and Free Ports. A Comparative Study

of Their Principles and Practices With Three Case Studies.

By HCAW

Schulze. Butterworths, Durban. 1997. x & 131 pp. Price R148,20 (soft

cover).

South Africa's recent political liberation has widely been recognised as nothing

short of a miracle. But for her people to attain full freedom, yet another miracle is

required: an economic one. The South African economy, like her political system,

has to be liberated. One way to contribute to such a liberation, is to liberalise her

international trade by eliminating politically-inspired and self-serving protec-

tionist measures as far and as soon as possible. One of the first steps in this regard

may well involve the establishment of one or more of the various free-trade

institutions through which economic liberalisation may be commenced on a

limited scale and under controlled conditions. It is with such institutions that Dr

Christiaan Schulze's excellent and timely study is concerned. His aim is 'to explain

the basic principles of free trade zones and free ports from a legal point of view

and [to] compare different types of free trade zones and their objectives, with one

another. Finally, an evaluation is made with the view of establishing a free trade

zone in the form of an export processing zone (or a free industrial zone) and a free

port in South Africa' (at 2). The study does not disappoint. On the contrary, it

succeeds eminently in providing the perfect introduction to the topic: sufficiently

detailed, well reasoned, and fully referenced.

International Tax-free Trade Zones and Free Ports

kicks off in chapter 1 by

providing brief descriptions of the main forms of free-trade institutions, namely

the free port (FP); the free trade zone (FTZ); the free trade area (FTA); the export

processing zone (EPZ); and the free industrial zone (FIZ). That this is necessary

(1997) 9 SA Merc LJ 408

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