The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) has served as the cornerstone of the U.S.-Africa commercial relationship for more than two decades but it is set to expire on September 30, 2025. While the legislation’s unilateral trade preferences have provided economic benefits for countries across sub-Saharan Africa, AGOA as a whole remains underutilized. To ensure
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Overview of South Africa’s Draft National Data and Cloud Policy
If there is a silver lining to most crises, the accelerated move toward digitized commerce globally and in Africa may be one positive outcome of the COVID-enforced lockdown. It is welcome news there that the South African Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies (“Minister”) published the Draft National Data and Cloud Policy (in Government Gazette
Africa Compliance Minute Series – Getting to the Root of the Problem: Considerations for Conducting an Effective Root Cause Analysis
Our Africa Anti-Corruption Practice has previously outlined key considerations for handling internal investigations and remediation of compliance issues in Africa. Here, we take a closer look at a particular aspect of remediation, the root cause analysis. After the dust settles on an investigation identifying misconduct, a root cause analysis can serve as the most effective
Final Countdown to POPIA Compliance – Five Critical Steps to Take Before July 1st, 2021
In Episode 12 of our Inside Privacy Audiocast, together with special guest Advocate Pansy Tlakula, Chairperson of the Information Regulator of South Africa, we discussed the Information Regulator’s mandate, and the implementation of data protection legislation in South Africa. Now, with less than a month to go before South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act,
Inside Privacy Audiocast: Episode 6 – View from Johannesburg Part II: Top Data Policy Trends to Look Out For in Africa
Recently, there has been a significant level of attention given to data protection and privacy matters on the Continent, and in the just the past year, we have seen new laws proposed or enacted in places like Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, and of course South Africa, although prior to that, places like Morocco, Ghana and Mali
African governments ease COVID-19 restrictions and reopen economies
A growing number of African countries have begun to ease COVID-19 related regulatory restrictions. Some countries, such as Kenya, Rwanda, and Senegal resumed international flights in August, while other countries like South Africa and Nigeria are only now opening their borders. For a continent that slipped into recession for the first time in a quarter
Inside Privacy Audiocast: Episode 5 – View From Johannesburg Part I: GDPR vs. POPIA – What Should Businesses Be Considering?
On June 22, 2020, the South African President announced that certain provisions of POPIA would take effect on July 1, provisions which most regard as essential to the statute, such as those imposing conditions on the lawful processing of personal information, procedures for handling complaints, and general enforcement provisions. Only days later, the South African
South Africa Eases COVID-19 Restrictions
South Africa Eases COVID-19 Restrictions
On September 16, 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that South Africa would move from Alert Level 2 to Alert Level 1 of Risk Adjusted Strategy as of midnight on September 20, 2020. This is in part in response to the relatively low levels of infections and the government led interventions
Africa Compliance Minute Series – What Does DOJ’s Recent Guidance on Compliance Programs Mean for Companies Operating in Africa?
In a recent client alert, we explored the U.S. Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) June 2020 update to its guidance on Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs (the “DOJ Guidance”).
In this series of posts, our Africa Anti-Corruption Practice will be focusing on the key takeaways from the DOJ Guidance through the lens of companies operating in
Africa Compliance Minute Series – Acting Early to Save You Later: The Importance of Taking Corrective Action During the Course of an Investigation
In a recent contribution to the CovAfrica blog, our Africa Anti-Corruption Practice outlined key considerations for handling internal investigations in Africa. Here we take a deeper dive into one of the most important, and challenging, aspects of internal investigations – remediation, drawing on a longer article we recently published in Global Investigations Review’s 2020