Concern over red tape Bill’s effect on big business

Parliament has heard that the Red Tape Impact Assessment Bill – aimed at easing doing business in South Africa – placed too much emphasis on small business, worrying a lot of large companies that are also still vulnerable to red tape. A Business Day report says the Bill – introduced by Democratic Alliance MP Hendrik Krüger as a private member’s Bill in 2016 – places emphasis on freeing small- and medium-sized enterprises from red tape. In its submission to the portfolio committee, Business Unity SA (Busa) said that while the confederation welcomed the Bill ‘as a trigger for more … debate on mitigation of regulatory burdens’, it (the Bill) still raised a number of concerns in its current form. Busa argued that the Bill’s focus on relieving the burden of red tape on small businesses opened larger businesses up to the risk of being overlooked and left vulnerable to red tape. It did not believe that the Bill would achieve the intended outcome with an ‘independent body’ and that the Presidency was a much more realistic office to strengthen the existing system.