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Doing Business in South Africa — Source Library

Every Act, regulation, gazette, judgment and official guide cited across the Doing Business in South Africa hub, linked to the authoritative source.

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Martin Kotze

Attorney, Conveyancer & Notary Public

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How to use this library

South African business law is published by a dozen different official bodies: the CIPC (Companies and Intellectual Property Commission) for company registration, SARS (the South African Revenue Service) for tax, the SARB (South African Reserve Bank) for exchange control, the DHA (Department of Home Affairs) for visas, the Department of Employment and Labour, the dtic (Department of Trade, Industry and Competition) for B-BBEE, and the courts via SAFLII (the Southern African Legal Information Institute). This page gathers every source cited across the hub into one register, grouped the way the guides use them.

Each guide — from subsidiary vs branch and company registration for foreigners through corporate tax, exchange control, bank account opening, work visas, employment law and B-BBEE — lists its own sources at the foot of the page; this is the combined register. For quick answers to the questions overseas boards actually ask, start with the FAQ. If your interest is ongoing South African compliance rather than market entry, see the wider compliance hub, the beneficial-ownership guide and our FICA and POPIA pages.

A note on the links: judgments point to SAFLII; legislation points to LawLibrary or, where its text lags behind amendments, to SAFLII’s consolidated Acts or the official departmental text. SAFLII and LawLibrary open normally in a browser but block automated fetchers — if a link preview fails inside a reference manager or AI tool, open the link directly. Where a signed Act, Government Gazette or SARB circular exists as an official PDF, a [PDF] link follows the entry. Library last reviewed on 16 July 2026; most links were fetch- or browser-tested in the July 2026 research pass.

Legislation & regulations

The Companies Act and the core tax statutes behind entity choice, registration and corporate tax — linked to the LawLibrary citation, or to the consolidated official text where that version is more current (with the official PDF where available). Sector-specific Acts appear under their own headings below.

Cases

Every judgment cited across the hub, linked to its SAFLII report — company law and directors first, then exchange control, tax, immigration, employment, procurement and banking.

Contracts, property & dispute resolution

The statutes behind contracting, arbitration, enforcement of foreign judgments, prescription and property acquisition — including the formalities Acts and the transfer-duty framework.

Trade, customs & competition

Customs registration for importers and exporters (including the registered-agent rule for foreign principals), ITAC import control, and the Competition Act merger-control framework with its 2026 thresholds.

Intellectual property

The four registration statutes, the Counterfeit Goods Act border regime, CIPC’s IP fee schedules — and WIPO’s membership registers (South Africa is not a Madrid Protocol member).

Incentives & Special Economic Zones

the dtic incentive guide and programme pages, and the SARS material behind the SEZ tax rate, the urban development zone allowance and the employment tax incentive.

CIPC & company guidance

The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission’s forms, fees, portals and customer notices governing company and external-company registration, beneficial ownership and annual returns.

SARS & tax guidance

South African Revenue Service rate tables, guides, interpretation notes and FAQs — plus National Treasury’s Budget documents — behind every tax figure used in the hub.

Exchange control (SARB)

The Currency and Exchanges Act framework administered by the South African Reserve Bank — the Exchange Control Regulations, the Authorised Dealer Manual and the circulars — plus the investment-protection statute.

Immigration (DHA)

The Immigration Act, its regulations, and the Department of Home Affairs gazettes, lists and fee schedules behind the work-visa and business-visa routes.

Employment & labour

The employment statutes, the annual wage and earnings-threshold determinations, and the institutions — including the CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) — every South African employer deals with.

B-BBEE & procurement

The Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, the Codes of Good Practice, the dtic’s programmes for multinationals and the preferential-procurement regulations that make the scorecard commercially real.

FICA, POPIA & other

Anti-money-laundering (the Financial Intelligence Centre Act), data protection (the Protection of Personal Information Act), access to information, investment promotion — and the practical odds and ends, from trading licences to apostilles and sanctions lists.

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Why you can trust this: Martin Kotze has been an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, registered Conveyancer, and Notary Public since 2014, practising from Pretoria. The firm is regulated by the Legal Practice Council under firm registration 17444.

This guide is general information, not legal advice for your specific matter.

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Martin Kotze advises overseas companies and their local teams on South African market entry — entity setup, directors and governance, contracts, employment and regulatory compliance. General guidance on this page is not a substitute for advice on your facts.

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