{"id":716050,"date":"2023-09-05T08:43:09","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T06:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=716050"},"modified":"2023-09-05T08:43:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-05T06:43:09","slug":"2-new-business-laws-for-south-africa-open-for-public-comment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/716050\/2-new-business-laws-for-south-africa-open-for-public-comment\/","title":{"rendered":"2 new business laws for South Africa open for public comment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Portfolio Committee on Trade, Industry and Competition has opened the Companies Amendment Bill and the Companies Second Amendment Bill for public comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Interested parties will have until 12h00 on Monday, 2 October 2023 to submit comments to the Committee. Oral submissions on the Bill can also be requested, with public hearings scheduled for 17,18 and 20 October 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the biggest changes seen in the Companies Amendment Bill is to force listed companies to disclose the ratio of the top-paid employees with those in the bottom-paid 5%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel&nbsp;said that this Bill will help address South Africa&#8217;s rampant inequality &#8211; with South Africa the most unequal society in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In South Africa, some&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/684241\/meet-the-south-african-ceos-who-earn-over-r240000-a-day\/\">top executives earn over R500,000 a day<\/a>, whilst the average person makes<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/699287\/the-average-salary-in-south-africa-right-now\/\">&nbsp;R800 a day<\/a> or the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/714236\/this-is-how-little-money-the-poorest-in-south-africa-are-living-on-each-month\/\">poverty line of just R25 a day<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There has also been a recent push amongst shareholders of listed companies to vote against high executive pay at Annual General Meetings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bill seeks to amend the Companies Act, 2008 through the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Clarify when a Notice of Amendment of a Memorandum of Incorporation takes effect;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Differentiate where the right to gain access to companies\u2019 records may be limited;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide for the preparation, presentation and voting on companies\u2019 remuneration policy and directors\u2019 remuneration report;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide for the filing of a copy of the annual financial statement;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Empower the court to validate the irregular creation, allotment or issue of shares;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Clarify how shares which are not fully paid are to be dealt with;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Exclude the subsidiary company from the requirements relating to financial assistance;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide for instances where a special resolution is required for acquisition of shares by the company;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Extend the definition of an employee share scheme to include situations where there are purchases of shares of a company;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide for the circumstances under which a private company will be a regulated company;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Deal with the composition of the social and ethics Committee;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide for the publication of the application for exemption from the requirement to appoint a social and ethics committee;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide for the presentation of the social and ethics committee report at the annual general meeting or shareholders\u2019 meeting as the case may be;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ensure the differentiation of duties between the chairperson of the Companies Tribunal and the Chief Operating Officer; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide for matters connected therewith.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>On the other hand, the Companies Second Amendment Bill aims to adjust the time limits for legal measures related to recovering losses or damages for which a person can be held responsible according to section 77 of the Companies Act, 2008. It seeks to change the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Amend the time bar for the bringing of an application to declare a person delinquent in terms of section 162(2) and (3) of the Companies Act; <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Provide for matters connected therewith.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/B27_2023_Companies_Amendment_Bill.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Companies Amendment Bill <\/a>and the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/companies-second-amendment-bill.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">Companies Second Amendment Bill<\/a> can be found below: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/B27_2023_Companies_Amendment_Bill.pdf\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/companies-second-amendment-bill.pdf\" width=\"100%\" height=\"600\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read<\/strong>: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/technology\/715920\/new-government-surveillance-laws-for-south-africa-are-coming\/\" target=\"_blank\">New government surveillance laws for South Africa are coming<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Government has set the deadlines for comment on two new important pieces of legislation for businesses in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":693939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-716050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716050"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":716080,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716050\/revisions\/716080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}