COVID-19 SOCIAL RELIEF OF DISTRESS GRANT

• Input is sought on proposals for amending the April 2022 regulations to:
  • increase the monthly ‘income threshold for insufficient means’ from R350 to R624, and
  • empower the Minister to adjust the threshold ‘from time to time’, in concurrence with the Minister of Finance.

 

DIGITAL MIGRATION AND SET-TOP BOX APPLICATIONS

• Communication and Digital Technologies Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has issued a media statement:
  • responding to the recent Constitutional Court ruling, and
  • confirming the new, final deadline for set-top box applications, which has since been gazetted.

 

FILMS, GAMES AND CERTAIN PUBLICATIONS

• revised classification guidelines have been gazetted that:
  • are scheduled to come into force on 1 August 2022
  • will repeal and replace the April 2019 version, and
  • will be aligned with provisions in the 2019 Films and Publications Amendment Act, which came into effect on 1 March 2022.

 

PRIVATE SECURITY SERVICES

• Two sets of draft regulations have been gazetted for public comment:
  • one focuses on the use of remotely piloted aircraft systems, and
  • the other deals with training.

 

PENSION FUNDS ACT REGULATIONS

• National Treasury has published the final amendments to Regulation 28, the details of which are explained in an accompanying media statement among other things confirming that the amended regulation will:
  • come into force on 2 January 2023, and
  • enable retirement funds to make longer-term investments in infrastructure.

 

BIODIVERSITY

• A draft White Paper on the conservation and sustainable use of South Africa’s biodiversity has been gazetted for public comment.

 

HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS AND PESTICIDES

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has called for public comments on

draft regulations intended to repeal and replace those in force since last year, which domesticated the 1998 Rotterdam Convention on international trade in these substances.

 

WASTE MANAGEMENT

• Input is sought on draft regulations that, once in force, will:
  • domesticate the UN’s 2013 Minamata Convention
  • limit anthropogenic emitting mercury-related processes
  • phase out mercury added products
  • ‘phase down’ the use of mercury in dental amalgam, and
  • regulate mercury storage facilities and mercury trade.

 

PETROLEUM RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT

• The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has withdrawn and replaced a notice gazetted last month on the implementation of amendments to regulations affecting permission, rights and permit applications.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby