WATER AND SANITATION

 

• The Department of Water and Sanitation has called for public comments on  draft regulations intended to:
  • improve water and sanitation services
  • improve the quality of water discharged into the water resource and water services delivery system
  • promote efficient, sustainable water use, and
  • address shortcomings in prevailing water works and consumer installation construction and functioning planning and procedures.
• Once finalised and in force, the proposed new regulations will:
  • repeal and replace the June 2001 regulations prescribing compulsory national water conservation standards and measures, and among other things
  • prohibit the provision and/or use of the bucket toilet system ‘in both formal and informal settlements’.

 

FUNERAL INSURANCE

 

• United Democratic Movement MP Nqabayomzi Kwankwa has gazetted a notice calling for public input on the contents of a draft Long-term Insurance Amendment Bill to address issues experienced by the holders of multiple funeral policies when making claims.
• It is envisaged that every long-term insurer should be required to comply with ‘certain rules and disclosure obligations’ among other things:
  • making it mandatory for sales personnel to ensure that each prospective purchaser of a funeral policy is aware that holding more than one such policy could have negative ‘benefits implications’, and
  • facilitating opportunities for any prospective purchaser of a funeral policy to cancel policies already in place for the same life event.
• It is also envisaged that:
  • non-compliance on the part of funeral policy sales personnel would be sanctioned, and that
  • the non-disclosure of a funeral policy already in place would not affect the validity of any new funeral policy.

MOBILE BROADBAND SERVICES

 

• The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has called for public comments on proposed amendments to the 2022 mobile broadband service regulations. This is with the aim of addressing ‘some of the issues’ raised by one service provider in an application lodged in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) in September 2022.

 

AFRICAN GROWTH AND OPPORTUNITY ACT

 

• South Africa is one of 32 sub-Saharan African countries eligible to benefit this year from duty-free access to US markets for certain products under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). This is according to a list posted on the Office of the United States (US) Trade Representative’s website.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby