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March 2016
News
T
heCBE statutory body oversees
the Engineering Council of
South Africa; the South African
Council for the Quantity Surveying
Profession; the South African Coun-
cil for Property Valuers Profession;
the South African Council for the
Landscape Architectural Profession
and the South African Council for the
Project and Construction Manage-
ment Professions.
The CBE also includes the
South African Council for the
Architectural Profession, how-
ever, the exemption application
by the state entity has yet to be
decided.
In terms of the exemption
applications, the CBE asked the
Commission to exempt the rules
of its professional councils relating
to ‘the Identification of Work’ (IDOW)
rules from the provisions of the Com-
petition Act. The IDOW Rules provide
for the reservation of work for reg-
istered professionals with a certain
level of competency, skills and aca-
demic qualification in their respective
professions. According to the CBE, the
IDOWRules are necessary tomaintain
professional standards and to protect
consumers from health, safety and
Competition Commission rejects CBE
The Competition Commission has rejected five of the six exemption
applications filed by the Council for the Built Environment (CBE).
financial risks associated with work
performed by professionals. The
Commission found that the IDOW
rules are likely to restrict competition
between registered and unregistered
persons. Once the rules
are
implemented, unregistered
persons will not be allowed to under-
take work or offer services reserved
for persons registered with the CBE
professional councils.
The rules are also likely to prevent
persons registered with other pro-
fessional councils outside the built
environment from undertaking work
reserved for persons within the CBE,
regardless of their competencies.
In refusing to grant an exemption,
the Commission concluded that the
restrictions imposed by the IDOW
Rules will reduce the number of
persons operating in the different
professions under the CBE.
The reduction in the number
of persons operating within
the built environment is
likely to reduce the quan-
tity of services offered,
which may result in the
fees for services increas-
ing above competitive
level.
The Commission also found that
there are other regulations currently
in force in the built environment that
cater for public health, safety and
financial risks associated with work
performed by professionals.
The Commission is therefore of the
view that existing regulations are suf-
ficient to protect consumers fromany
wrong doing or underperformance by
professionals.
Lastly, the Commission found that
the IDOW Rules are not in line with
international best practices.
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C
ommunities and civil society
are challenging the amend-
ment as there are currently
8 257 claimants who lodged claims
during the initial process and they
are still waiting for those claims to
be settled.
Constance Mogale, Land Access
Movement of South Africa (LAMOSA)
says that the Association for Rural
Advancement, Nkunzi Development
Association, the communal property
associations of Moddervlei, Maluleke
andPopelawill continuewithappeals
to the Constitutional Court. The as-
sociations have been assisted by
lawyers from the Legal Resources
Centre and Webber Wentzel. Mogale
points out that by allowing new
claimants who had missed the initial
window period to access the resti-
tution process is to be welcomed.
However, the outstanding claims that
were lodged during the initial period
must be finalised first. The issue,
she explains, is that the Act fails to
give clear guidance on how to deal
with new claims that may clash or
affect pending or unresolved exist-
ing claims. The Act aims to restore
land to communities who lost their
Land claims
Civil society organisations
headed to the Constitutional
Court tochallenge theRestitution
of LandRights Amendment Act of
2014 to open the land restitution
process for a further five years.
land as a direct result of the 1913
Native Land Act. Many black people
were displaced from their properties
through forced removals. But the
communities claim that the Act is
unconstitutional and also that the
National Council of Provinces (NCOP)
didnot take reasonable steps to facili-
tate public participation.
Government reopened its land
claims process, in 2014, allowing
people, who had missed an earlier
deadline for lodging claims for com-
pensation, to do so within the next
five years until 30 June 2019.
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