Several Bills approved by both Houses of Parliament during plenary
The National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) today passed several Bills at their plenary sittings.
Amongst the Bills approved by the National Council of Provinces relate to the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) and its proposed fiscal framework for the next three years. Also agreed to were the Special Appropriation Bill, the Adjustments Appropriation Bill and its Votes and Schedules, Proposed Division of Revenue and Conditional Grant allocations to provincial and local spheres of government.
These instruments make it possible to provide for the equitable division of revenue raised nationally among the national, provincial and local spheres of government.
Other Bills considered and passed in the NCOP include the National Research Foundation Amendment Bill; Marine Spatial Planning Bill; Protection, promotion, development and management of indigenous knowledge Bill; Communal Property Associations Amendment Bill; Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill; The Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill; Critical Infrastructure Protection Bill and The Films and Publications Amendment Bill and the Taxation Laws Amendment Bill.
The Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill, among other things, seeks to fix the rates of normal tax and amend the rate of estate duty under the Estate Duty Act of 1955. It also seeks to fix the rates of tax and monetary amounts under the Income Tax Act of 1962, the rates of duty in Schedule 1 of the Customs and Excise Act of 1964, rates of Value-Added Tax (VAT) and to provide for more efficient taxation of electronic commerce. The legal provision for the 15% VAT which came into effect on 1 April is contained in the Bill.
The Tax Administration Laws Amendment Bill proposes to amend the Income Tax Act; the Income Tax Act, 1962; the Customs and Excise Act, 1964; the Value-Added Tax Act, 1991; the Securities Transfer Tax Act, 2007; the Tax Administration Act, 2011; and the Customs Control Act, 2014.
The Competition Amendment Bill’s main purpose is to address structural constraints on the South African economy, namely, the high levels of economic concentration and the skewed ownership profile of the economy.
Also passed by the NCOP is the Films and Publications Amendment Bill which seeks to decriminalize the online distribution of adult content on all digital platforms and to provide for the establishment of a co-regulation system.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly considered and passed the following Bills: iKamva Digital Skills Institute Bill; Property Practitioners Bill, Customary Initiation Bill and Foreign Service Bill.
The purpose of the Property Practitioners Bill is to repeal the Estate Agency Affairs Act of 1976 whilst the Customary Initiation Bill seeks to provide for the protection of life, the prevention of injuries and abuse in any form during and after initiation.
Also agreed to by the National Assembly is the Foreign Service Bill which aims to create an enabling administrative and management framework through which the Foreign Service will be managed and regulated in a consolidated and coherent manner by the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
Tomorrow will mark the last sitting of the National Council of Provinces for the year whilst the National Assembly will rise on Thursday for its Constituency break and end-of-the-year holidays.
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