Tabled Investment Bill says nothing new, only adds to uncertainty
28 July 2015
This morning the Minister of Trade and Industry finally tabled the so-called Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill.
This follows an almost 18 month delay since the first version of the Bill was released - a version that was met with near unanimous criticism.
What South Africa needs is a Bill that will make it unambiguously clear to all investors that South Africa needs and wants their investment, and will go the extra mile to ensure that we get that investment. Unfortunately, the Bill tabled today still does not offer anything by way of promoting investment, and still does not offer the kind of investment protection that the international investor community requires.
The Bill is only 6 pages long, its wording is broad and generic, leaving important issues open to interpretation. The Bill also gives the Minister wide discretion over important areas of legal protection, like investor-state disputes. There are many crucial legal issues left out completely - the Bill is silent on intellectual property, for example.