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South Africa’s trade relationship with China is growing, resulting in several announcements regarding trade at the BRICS Summit in August 2023. Among the announcements was the news that Chinese companies had signed deals to buy South African products worth around USD 2.2 billion. Also announced were plans for China to import more South African beef and other South African agricultural products, as well as the donation of Chinese energy equipment worth USD 8.9 million to South Africa, in addition to a grant valued at USD 26.9 million to assist the country with its energy crisis.

It was recently announced that South Africa’s Health Promotion Levy on sugary beverages was to be extended to pure juice. The South African government is expected to publish a discussion paper on the levy soon. This is intended to aid consultation on the proposals to extend the levy to pure fruit juices and lower the four-gram threshold.

Our latest Doing Business in South Africa Guide outlines some of the principal matters affecting an overseas entity that wishes to establish and operate a business in the country. The Guide offers a range of practical advice and useful guidance for entities seeking to do business in the country.

Today’s global economy demands that businesses expand beyond borders, but they face hurdles from customs, as well as regulatory barriers in different countries and regions that make this expansion challenging. The South African Revenue Service Authorised Economic Operators programme offers numerous benefits for businesses trading within the regional market of the Southern African Custom Union and internationally. Such businesses include manufacturers, importers, exporters, brokers, carriers, consolidators, intermediaries, ports, airports, terminal operators, integrated operators, warehouses, distributors, and freight forwarders.

Almost half of the population of Africa does not have access to electricity. It is, therefore, critical for the continent to increase its access to a clean, decarbonized, decentralized energy supply.
To enable this energy transition, countries across the continent are implementing policies that take into account the energy crisis. Alongside other jurisdictions, they are also launching initiatives and providing funding, investments and grants for African renewable energy projects.

In June 2023, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) proposed amendments to the JSE Listings Requirements including a new section which contains the listing requirements of the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Segment of the JSE. Among other things, these requirements include that trading in BEE securities must be restricted to a BEE-compliant person pursuant to the use of either a BEE contract or a BEE verification agent. The JSE has invited comments on the proposed amendments by 17 July 2023.

Hydrogen markets in Africa are expected to grow exponentially but there are still multiple barriers to the widespread development of decarbonized hydrogen. Each energy sector investment faces challenges in the form of infrastructure gaps, policy, regulatory, economic and financial barriers. A recent positive development in this regard is the announcement that a dedicated blended finance fund, SA-H2, has been launched to raise USD 1 billion for the construction of green hydrogen projects in South Africa. Once established, the SA-H2 will join the SDG Namibia One Fund to offer a blended finance solution for Southern African’s green hydrogen sector.

The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allows duty- and quota-free exports from eligible African countries into the United States, is due to expire in 2025. There has been much speculation that it might be replaced with new trade agreements between the two regions that will follow the free trade policies of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement and the reciprocal trade initiatives promoted as part of the US’s Prosper Africa initiative. It has also been suggested that an evolved AGOA might be the way forward, creating an increasingly mutually beneficial trade relationship between the two regions.

Competition authorities the world over have observably expanded their consideration of transactions from applying a purely competition-focused lens to one that incorporates the broader needs of society. Many African merger control regimes have developed a competition policy approach that balances traditional competition law considerations with public interest concerns, especially in terms of market concentration, access to competitive markets for small and medium enterprises and employment considerations.

Our newly updated broad-based black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) guide provides a detailed overview of the regulation of B-BBEE in South Africa. The principal objectives of B-BBEE are to promote economic transformation and enable meaningful participation of black people in the South African economy through increased participation in ownership and management structures, increasing the involvement of communities and employees in economic activities and skills training.