Comment on NCR Registration

You need to register as a credit provider in terms of the National Credit Act if you provide credit under an agreement which whereby you as the credit provider undertakes –

To supply goods or services or to pay an amount to the consumer and in terms of the agreement to 1) defer the customer’s obligation to pay any part of the cost, or 2) bill the customer periodically and charge a fee or interest in respect of any amount so deferred. The best example of this type of credit agreement would be an instalment sale agreement of the type usually entered into with a furniture retailer. 

You must consider the above in deciding whether you need to register or not and in most cases unless you have some kind of deferred arrangement with your customer you will NOT need to register. 

If you provide incidental credit you are NOT required to register. An incidental credit agreement is one where a fee, charge or interest becomes payable when payment is not made on time or before a pre-determined date. Eg you sell goods to a customer on a 30-day basis and he fails to pay, so you agree that he can pay off over 6 months, but there is a penalty or interest or both because of his non-performance.

Please seek the advice of an expert if you are not sure whether you need to register or not. Please note that there is a cost to registration and penalties would apply for failure to register should you be required to do so.

Comment On Consumer Protection Act (CPA)

The Consumer protection act covers a vast range of factors in ensuring that the rights of consumers are protected. The Act gives 8 rights to consumers.

They are:

1.    The right to consumer education
2.    The right to disclosure and information
3.    The right to choice
4.    The right to representation
5.    The right to redress
6.    The right to safety
7.    The right to a healthy environment
8.    The right to access basic needs and services

In considering how these rights and the Act impact on your business you need to consider:

1.    The quality of you sell- ensure quality and that faulty products are not sold
2.    Refund, replace or repair faulty goods- all goods sold now have a 6-month warranty
3.    Customer is king! - be positive towards customers in everything you do
4.    Understand the full supply change- even if your business did not engage with the end customer as part of the supply chain you are still impacted by the CPA
5.    Use plain and simple language with your customers
6.    Contact your customers during reasonable business hours
7.    Don’t make unsolicited calls- direct marketing has some specific rules (see attached article)
8.    Staff need to be made aware of how the Act impacts them- particular those who deal with customers.

The POPI Act

The POPI act came into effect on 1 July 2021 and the first point to note is that it applies to all business regardless of size. It stands for the Privacy of Private Information.

There are 4 things that need to be considered:

1.    The processing of personal information in terms of a record triggers POPI- any act of processing information.
2.    The processing of personal information applies to juristic persons as well as individuals.
3.    Be very careful of processing red flag information- race, sex, ethnic etc.
4.    Always be ultra-careful when dealing with information that falls into the red zone.

There are 8 Processing Conditions in terms of the Act:

1.    Accountability- Store the information in terms of the Act
2.    Processing Limitation- only collect that information which is needed- collect as little as possible 
3.    Only keep the information for as long as authorised- must have consent, and you must have a lawful business reason for holding that information, the records must be retained in a manner that the processing is compatible with the purpose for which the information was obtained.
4.    The information must be accurate.
5.    There must be an openness in obtaining the information.
6.    The subject of the information is entitled to know from where the information was obtained
7.    The record-keeping must be safeguarded from theft, abuse etc,
8.    A POPI information officer needs to be appointed who would by default be the CEO of the business. The Information officer must be registered as such.

POPIA Checklist

1.    Appoint an Information officer
2.    Make disclosure (privacy statement)
3.    Develop a POPI compliance framework
4.    Have a data protection policy?
5.    Do a Personal Information Impact Assessment?
6.    Place a PAIA manual on your website