The recent unrest and looting in South Africa have had a severe impact on businesses and employers in the country. Such businesses have had to address urgent issues including concerns regarding insurance cover, invoking force majeure clauses, ensuring employee health and safely, assisting affected or stranded employees and implementing disciplinary action for employees caught taking part in the looting.
Welcome to our Virtual Global Trade Conference, a virtual offering for all our clients and friends worldwide. Baker McKenzie’s international trade compliance lawyers from around the world discussed the major developments impacting international trade. The sessions include trade policy, exports, sanctions, customs, China trade developments and trade developments.
In March this year, the High Court in South Africa ruled on how a certain mobile phone should be classified for tariff purposes – essentially deciding whether it should be a machine or a phone for the purposes of determining import tariffs. The ruling has implications for all businesses importing mobile phone products into South Africa.
In March this year, the High Court in South Africa ruled on how a certain mobile phone should be classified for tariff purposes – essentially deciding whether it should be a machine or a phone for the purposes of determining import tariffs. The ruling has implications for all businesses importing mobile phone products into South Africa.
On 11 June 2021, the Department of Employment and Labor in South Africa issued guidance on vaccination policies in the workplace, in the form of the amendment to the Consolidated Direction on Occupational Health and Safety Measures in Certain Workplaces. Employers seeking to implement a mandatory vaccine policy must undertake a risk assessment by 2 July 2021.
South Africa received the positive news on 10 June 2021 that the threshold for self-generation power project licenses would increase to 100 MW. This is a welcomed and long-awaited development in a country that has been plagued by power supply challenges, which have had a significant impact on the private sector and are contributing to the impediment of much-needed economic growth in South Africa.
From 1 July 2021, the substantive implementation of key provisions of the Protection of Personal Information Act will finally become enforceable, meaning that businesses that collect and process personal information of South Africans have only a few more weeks to ensure they are compliant with POPIA.
COVID-19 has revealed the high value of personal data to businesses around the world, while also highlighting its susceptibility to abuse and attack. Countries have responded by reviewing their data privacy and protections laws. In South Africa, the Cybercrimes and Cybersecurity Act and the Protection of Personal Information Act are new laws that will bring the country’s data protection and cybersecurity legislation in line with global standards.
The Global Financial Institutions Industry Podcast includes 13 episodes on the following topics: Operational Risk, Risk Management Guidelines, Fintech, Financial Institutions, Insurtech, Insurance and Financial Sponsors.
Travel restrictions implemented due to the pandemic have changed the way the majority of employers plan their workforce mobility programs. This is especially the case if they are based in countries included on travel red lists due to current high infection rates or different virus variants. While some sectors require employees to be physically present, in many others, remote working has taken off and is expected to remain a permanent feature of the modern workforce, even once cross-border travel has recovered.