COMPENSATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL INJURIES AND DISEASES

• The Department of Employment and Labour has gazetted a notice announcing its intention to embark on ‘employer engagements, site visits and audits’ with the aim of ‘establishing effective registration and compliance’ with the Act.

 

CYBERCRIME

• The Department Police has gazetted a notice calling for public comments on draft standard operating procedures for investigations, access, search and seizure under the Cybercrimes Act, 2020.

 

BIODIVERSITY

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has issued a media statement providing insight into the purpose of a draft White Paper released on 8 July for public comment. Once operationalised, it is expected to facilitate:
  • ‘a shift to an Africanised conservation approach that embraces ... (South Africa’s) diverse cultures, traditions and knowledge systems’, as well as ‘values such as ubuntu’
  • ‘a more holistic approach to sustainable use, which ensures (the) responsible and humane use of South Africa’s biodiversity
  • an end to ‘poor and harmful practices such as those associated with the captive lion industry’
  • the implementation of recommendations emerging from a recent high-level panel review of policy, legislation and practices affecting elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling, and
  • promote transformation by way of ‘access and beneficiation by communities adjacent to protected areas, as well as for previously disadvantaged individuals’.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

• Three sets of proposed amendments to regulations on mining-related activities have been gazetted for public comment. Once in force:
  • one will affect the protocol for assessing and reporting on an activity’s impact on animal species
  • one will have implications for hydraulic fracturing when exploring for and producing onshore oil and gas, and
  • one will regulate financial provisioning for environmental damage during reconnaissance, prospecting, exploration and production.

 

DIGITAL MARKETS

• The Competition Commission has published an interim report for public comment. According to an accompanying media statement, provisional recommendations include:
  • a 10-15% cap on the fee differentials between large and small businesses
  • advertising that is clearly displayed as such, with top search positions reserved for ‘organic/natural search results’
  • separating own-product retailers from third party sellers, and
  • special funding and fee arrangements for businesses owned by historically disadvantaged persons.

 

LIQUOR PRODUCTS

• Several sets of amendments to regulations under the Liquor Products Act, 1989, have been gazetted since 8 July, when a composite notice was published dealing with matters similar to those gazetted a week later in separate notices affecting:
  • mead
  • the wine of origin scheme
  • miscellaneous alcoholic and spirit-based beverages, and
  • the use of certain words to describe particular products.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby