The Draft Code of Good Practice on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work (Draft Code) was recently published for public comment in South Africa. Tiisetso Rabolao, Associate and Kirsty Gibson, Candidate Attorney, in the Employment and Compensation Practice in Johannesburg, outline the details of the new Draft Code.
The African Union announced in August 2020 that negotiations around the first commercial trade deal under the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) would be finalized by January 2021, and that negotiations would take place via a new African Virtual Trade-Diplomacy Platform. Virusha Subban, Partner specializing in Customs and Trade at Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg discusses these latest developments and a likely focus on the trade in services.
The National Treasury in South Africa has implemented a deferment of excise duties in respect of payments, for excise compliant businesses in the tobacco and alcohol industries. This is due to the detrimental effect of lockdown restrictions on the sale of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products. Virusha Subban, Partner and Head of Tax, and Prenisha Govender, Associate in the Tax Practice at Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg, outline the key details of these deferrals.
What has changed
On 16 July 2020, the Board of Directors of the National Food and Safety Authority (“NFSA”) issued a decision No. 6 for 2020 setting rules for regulating the importation of food in Egypt (the “Decision”). Before the issuance of this Decision, imported food was subject to the general standard requirements of importation license. However, this Decision prohibited any food facility or food importer, whether a natural person or a company to undertake any activity of food importation without obtaining the prior license from the NFSA.
Johan Botes, Partner and Head of the Employment and Compensation Practice at Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg explains how the long-term effects of the pandemic are having a significant impact on women, with severe implications for gender equality that must be urgently addressed. He notes, however, that, as was evident after World War II, elements of the global labor force could be forever changed for the better by COVID-19.
The Draft Code of Good Practice on the Prevention and Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work (Draft Code) was recently published for public comment in South Africa. Tiisetso Rabolao, Associate and Kirsty Gibson, Candidate Attorney, in the Employment and Compensation Practice in Johannesburg, outline the details of the new Draft Code.
As COVID-19 rapidly spreads to every corner of the globe and is officially declared a pandemic, governments across the world are adopting emergency measures to fight against this extraordinary situation. Ultimately, all these measures are aimed at protecting the health and wellbeing of citizens. However, on the healthcare and life sciences front in particular, such measures range from intervention powers to guarantee adequate supplies of treatment and medical equipment, to the relaxation of deadlines and regulatory requirements to simplify administrative procedures wherever possible, so that competent authorities, manufacturers and other actors can focus on urgent priorities related to the COVID-19 crisis.
Countries around the globe are facing unprecedented and rapid change due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government Intervention…
At the end of July 2020, the National Treasury in South Africa released the Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill for comment. The Bill includes proposed amendments to both section 15 and section 36 of the Income Tax Act, effectively noting that capital expenditure allowances are only available to taxpayers that hold the relevant mineral rights. The proposed amendment, if passed in its current form, means that contract miners will not be entitled to claim any accelerated capital expenditure allowances, and will have to claim allowances for capital expenditure in terms of other provisions in the Income Tax Act. Denny Da Silva, Senior Tax Advisor at Baker McKenzie in Johannesburg, explains how this will impact contract miners.
The horrific explosion that recently took place at the port of the city of Beirut is a tragedy for its people. The possible casues of the explosion has brought to mind the cases of maritime fraud that many observers overlook. In recent years, the shipping and maritime trade industry has witnessed a sharp increase not only in the number of fraud cases but also in the diversity and sophistication of fraud. Fraudsters are becoming more creative in laying out and executing their plans, including using modern technology such as computer hacking while also preserving some tried and tested traditional methods, such as document fraud. Ship owners are also finding themselves under pressure to earn new business and, to that end, many of them ignore exercising due diligence when dealing with new business partners. While ports are adopting new technologies this too has the potential to enable new certain types of fraud (such as automating container operations).