CRIMINAL JUSTICE

• The South African Law Reform Commission issued a media statement extending the deadline for input on four discussion documents released in February 2025 for public comment. This is noting that an earlier press release from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development quoted Deputy Minister Andries Nel as having noted that the discussion papers ‘do not reflect the views of government or any of the (associated) departments or institutions’. The papers focus on:
• alternative dispute resolution in criminal matters
• non-trial resolutions
• the arrest dispensation, and
• the bail dispensation.

 

CANNABIS SATIVA L PRODUCTS

• The Department of Health gazetted a notice withdrawing regulations published on 7 March 2025 under the 1972 Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act. The new regulations prohibited the sale, import or manufacture of all foodstuffs containing any part of/component derived from the cannabis and/or hemp genus, Cannabis Sativa L. The ban also applied to hemp seed oil and hemp seed flour with ingredients derived from Cannabis Sativa L.
• This is noting that on 26 March 2025 the Presidency issued a media statement announcing that Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi had undertaken to withdraw the regulations and to consult more broadly before publishing a revised version.

 

WASTE MANAGEMENT

• The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment gazetted a notice calling for public comments on a draft strategy for managing absorbent hygiene product waste. Developed under the 2008 National Environmental Management: Waste Act, the draft strategy:
• focuses on the design, life cycle and control of disposable diapers and other absorbent hygiene products
• would introduce the compulsory recovery, treatment and recycling of these products over a period of 15-years
• among other things would entail producing pellets as an alternative to coal, and
• proposes various funding options, including:
• water resource protection and sustainable rural development grants, and
• levies.

 

COMPETITION ACT

• The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition gazetted a notice extending the commentary deadline on proposals for a block exemption for healthcare industry service-related stakeholders from sections of the 1998 Act prohibiting certain anti-competitive practices. This would allow the stakeholders concerned to collectively determine:
• healthcare service tariffs
• standardised diagnosis, procedure, medical device and treatment codes
• quality measurements/metrics
• medicine ‘formularies’, and
• treatment protocols/guidelines.

 

NATIONAL RADIO FREQUENCY PLAN

• The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) gazetted a draft revised national radio frequency plan, calling for public comments. According to ICASA’s media statement on the proposed new plan, its overarching objective is to provide for the allocation of radio communication services by ‘ensuring the efficient and effective use of radio frequency spectrum and orbital resources’ within the 8.3 kHz to 3000 GHz frequency range.

 

Prepared by Pam Saxby