SMME CLASSIFICATION: RECENTLY TABLED AMENDMENT BILL EMPOWERS MINISTER TO SET CRITERIA

SMME CLASSIFICATION: RECENTLY TABLED AMENDMENT BILL EMPOWERS MINISTER TO SET CRITERIA

• 30 June 2023
• Parliament
• SA Legal Academy

Once operationalised, a National Small Enterprise Development Bill recently tabled in Parliament will not only establish an ombud office and integrate the services of three existing small business support agencies. It will also empower the Minister to make regulations setting criteria for determining the classification of micro, small and medium enterprises.

According to the Bill’s explanatory summary, the intention is to reduce the number of small business categories and to simplify their classification using evidence-based data rather than asset value – in line with international best practice.

As previously reported, the ombud will ‘consider and dispose of complaints’ related to:

• the terms of an agreement for procuring goods or services, and
• ‘the late or non-payment of amounts due and payable’.

A ‘Small Enterprise Development Finance Agency’ will integrate services currently provided by the Small Enterprise Financing Agency, the Co-operative Banks Development Agency and the Small Enterprise Development Agency. These agencies will eventually be disbanded.

• amendment Bill
• explanatory summary

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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