News & Articles
New advertising rules for crypto providers aim to protect consumers
The continuing fascination with cryptocurrencies and the use of cryptocurrency as a legitimate payment medium and investment asset has given rise to loads of crypto providers claiming big returns. Unfortunately, many of the claims made are wildly exaggerated and fail to properly highlight the risks involved in cryptocurrencies. Such uncontrolled advertising has necessitated new advertising rules in respect of crypto advertising.
Can you be fired if artificial intelligence can do your job?
Social media has been flooded with chatter about the chatbot phenomenon ChatGPT which seems destined to be able to, if not far better do, what humans can! So, what does this mean for employees? Can you be replaced by a bot like ChatGPT? In this article, we take a closer look at what this could mean for employees in the not-so-distant future.
New disclosure requirements for companies. Comply or risk being deregistered!
It is no secret that companies are used as vehicles to hide money laundering and terrorist financing activities. Internationally, this has necessitated increasing corporate disclosure requirements to apply to corporate entities. With the new Amendment Act, such disclosure requirements have now also found their way into our law to allow authorities to have a better view of who the beneficial owners are that own and control a company.
We do not wish to marry; how do we regulate our relationship?
“South Africans are losing interest in marriage”, this is the essence of the recent study done by Stats SA on the number of marriages and divorces being concluded by South Africans over the last ten years.
Companies take note of new beneficial ownership reporting requirements
You only need to watch a movie or series about drug trafficking, terrorism or even cyber hackers to associate criminal activities with the use of ‘shelf’ companies, ‘offshore’ companies or some or other form of corporate entity through which clever criminals’ squirrel away their ill-gotten gains out of sight and touch from authorities. But is this all just cliched stereotyping of the poor corporate entity form or are companies really being used and abused by criminals.
How enforceable are penalties levied for failing to build your house in an estate?
Every now and then we get a call from a perturbed client who has just received a sizable penalty on his monthly levy account from his body corporate or homeowner’s association for failing to have started/completed (this can vary) the building of a house on their estate erf. The demand is to know whether this penalty is enforceable and fair.
Alert: South Africa’s grey listing means extensive new compliance requirements!
The announcement on Friday that South Africa has been grey listed has come as a shock to many South Africans blissfully unaware of this sword hanging over our heads. For those in the know, grey listing has been unavoidable given the damning reports levelled against weaknesses in our money laundering and financial control framework. But besides hurting our economy the grey listing has also forced government to introduce stricter control measures to correct the shortcomings and hopefully have the grey listing removed over time. And these control measures will affect all businesses and individuals in some way or another.
Prescription and claims against organs of state
Claims against the state may arise from several causes of action. Important to remember though is that claims against organs of state are also subject to prescription, and care should be taken to not let your claim prescribe. In this article, we examine the current legal position in respect of prescription and claims against the state.
‘Baked’ at work? What can happen?
Recently a client approached us with a concern arising from the well-known Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development & Others v Prince & Others case wherein the use, cultivation and possession of marijuana were decriminalised. Our client was concerned that employees were arriving at work under the influence of cannabis claiming that they are now constitutionally allowed to use cannabis and that as an employer he could do nothing about it. Is this so, and did the Prince case in effect also legalise the use of cannabis at the workplace?
BEE and the new Preferential Procurement Regulations
Following the Constitutional Court judgment in February 2022 where the 2017 Preferential Procurement Regulations were declared invalid, there has been a misconception that this court decision has resulted in the wholesale scrapping of BEE when it comes to public procurement. Now with the new Preferential Procurement Regulations taking effect as of 16 January 2023, many tenderers are unsure of the extent to which BEE will still apply in public procurement.
Don’t get caught napping with a time-bar clause in your construction contract
Clients are often surprised when they discover clauses in their construction contract that requires them to give notice to the building contractor, usually within very short periods of time, of their intention to dispute a set of circumstances, failing which, they lose their right to refer such a dispute for dispute resolution. This then raises the question of why these clauses are present and how enforceable they are.
Terminating a contract – beware of the fine print!
In the world of contracts, the concluding of a contract is only the beginning of the process. Managing a contract to conclusion, including navigating all the pitfalls along the way, is just as big a part of the overall success of a contract. In this article we will explore the importance of correctly terminating a contract, as, let’s face it, things don’t always go to plan and you may need to climb out of a bad contract situation.
Trustees beware! You can now be fined and jailed!
Trusts have for some time now been the target of criticism for their alleged use and abuse in the money laundering environment. The latest challenge to the trust comes in the form of a major amendment to South Africa’s anti-money laundering framework by the General Laws (Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting Terrorism Financing) Amendment Act 22 of 2022 (“Amendment Act”) which holds serious implications for trusts and trustees. In this article we will focus specifically on how the trust form is abused and how the Amendment Act aims to curb such abuse.
New anti-money laundering amendment legislation to affect companies and trusts
Major amendments to South Africa’s anti-money laundering framework have almost unnoticed introduced serious changes to the trust and company law environment, including the addition of hefty fines and jailtime for trustees! So, although these changes have been aimed at the fight against money laundering and terrorism, the real impact of the amendments will be far wider.
New notification requirements for small business mergers
“New guidelines for small merger notification have been issued by the Competition Commission and businesses should take note of these when considering any mergers or acquisitions in the coming year. In this article, we look at the main aspects of these new guidelines.”