In the past few days the following quotation has been floating around the interweb with regard to the application of the Year 6 – 10 Targets on the Scorecard in the BBBEE Codes of Good Practice…
“the DTI is in the process of refining the Codes of Good Practice on B-BBEE and therefore the 0-5 year targets will be applied until the process of refining the codes is finalised and gazetted.
In light of the aforementioned, the DTI will withdraw the notice to eliminate the confusion in the market regarding the implementation of the 6-10 targets and provide further guidance on the measurement date.”
The quote is credited to the Department of Trade and Industry but very little can be found in the way of an actual notice to confirm this. We believe that this should be gazetted shortly if the above quote is to be believed.
We have however been in contact with the Association for BEE Verification Agencies (ABVA) to find out their official position and they have responded that with immediate effect, they have advised all their members to continue to use the 0 – 5 year targets until advised otherwise by the DTI. This has been confirmed with various Verification Agencies as well. This is an favourable situation for all companies in this interim phase leading up to the release of the revised Codes of Good Practice.
So, for now, all verifications taking place will utilise Year 0 – 5 targets.
As an aside, we believe possible changes to the revised Codes may include the following:
• Sub-Minimums, similar to current Employment Equity sub-minimums, or penalties reducing the overall level may be implemented for Ownership, Procurement and Enterprise Development if Generic companies fail to meet defined minimum levels.
• The creation of a mechanism to allow Black Owned businesses to comply with BBBEE without the need for a verification!