During 2023 there have been significant amendments made to the Companies Act. As part of these changes, the new requirements relate to “Beneficial Ownership information” and compulsory submission of this information to the Intellectual Property Commission (“CIPC”). A large emphasis is placed on the accuracy, completeness and truthfulness of the information submitted.
Impact of the change on the requirements by CIPC
In terms of “Beneficial Ownership Information”, an additional requirement to file the information with CIPC has been imposed. It is ultimately the responsibility of the directors of the entity to submit the required information, or the submission may be performed by another party on their behalf, by granting the required mandate.
Latest update
CIPC has issued an update that formally provides a deadline and subsequent implications of non-submissions. As per this update a new hard-stop functionality will apply. This entails that should the Beneficial Owner Submission of an entity be outstanding, no Annual Return submissions (renewals) will be allowed by CIPC from 1 April 2024 onwards. Furthermore, all beneficial owner submissions have to be fully completed and finalised by 24 May 2024 and CIPC will also be taking further enforcement actions with regards to entities which remain non-compliant. We are unsure as to what the steps or penalties may entail and suggest prioritisation be given to ensure submission as soon as possible.
Kindly refer to our website for previous communication in this regard at www.rta.co.za
We encourage you to reach out to our secretarial division at secretarial@rta.co.za should you have any questions or require assistance with submissions and collating the above information in preparation for submission.
