Many companies are undergoing verifications before the change in the codes. By doing so, they will have certificates issued under the old, more lenient codes, and these certificates will be valid until April 2016. This is a way of retaining levels for an additional year.
There are a couple of concerns relating to this:
- All verification agencies are very busy at the present; some I know worked over the Easter weekend and are planning to work all weekends until the end of the month.
- If you need verification performed by the end of the month and have not started yet, you may be too late. Most verification agencies have started to place deadlines for submission of final information, samples etc of the end of next week or 17 April 2015.
- If information is not received by these deadlines, companies run the risk of this information being excluded from the certificate.
The Empowering Supplier
One of the most significant changes in the amended codes is the requirement that suppliers be Empowering Suppliers to be claimed under Preferential Procurement.
So when a Verification Agency does the verification under the new codes they will in all likelihood do the verification of Empowering Supplier first. If the result is that the company is an Empowering Supplier, then the verification will continue. If not, the verification will likely stop.
Do you know whether you meet the requirements of an Empowering Supplier under the new Codes? If you want to make sure, read more here.
If you need assistance with questions on any B-BBEE related matter, including training courses and strategic sessions on the amended codes, please feel free to contact me.
Richard Ryding on [email protected] or
Pharyn Botha on [email protected].