Useful laws to know

Regarding laws in general. I am all for the consumer. Regardless of your position and what u do, every one of us is a consumer. However, a huge gap exists between the action that corporates and medium to large companies/organizations can take against a consumer as opposed to the recourse for a small concern.
Bottom line here is, I cannot afford huge legal costs for a client not willing to settle a debt of anything between R1k and R20k, unlike my counterparts in the corporate world.
The samll claims court for eg do not assist me as a small business, pty ltd or CC.
Any info on this appreciated
 
Unauthorised Brands

Does anyone have any advice/info regarding the sale of unauthorised brands? As I understand it, you can purchase any branded item overseas from an authorised dealer and re-sell it locally as long as you stipulate that it's not covered by manufacturers warranty, etc (as per the Act)

That being the case, why would you need a licence to sell branded products like Disney, etc ? I'm setting up a business selling party supplies and have reached a halt trying to find out where/how to obtain a licence or if it is necessary.

I did find an answer to the same question posed overseas:
"if you lawfully obtain authorized
Nickelodeon, etc., merchandise, you are free to package or bundle all
the items together and resell them using some or all of the marks
featured in the bundle. The classic example is a used car
dealership--they are clearly not an authorized Ford dealer, but they
buy and sell Ford cars all the time, using the "Ford" trademark in
their advertising"

The only problem/question is whether the same logic would apply under S.A. law - would really appreciate if someone can point me in the right direction to find answers
 
Excellent question, Tiki2007.

Key words: grey market, parallel import

I have tried finding the answer to this one as well, for the same reasons partially as you, but much larger in scale and a corporate market

From what I can understand, there is no law stopping you. As long as
a) You make sure all import taxes are paid,
b) they are genuine goods (royalties),
c) you do not misrepresent the product you are selling (warranties etc), and
d) it was legally purchased and paid for
you should be OK.

Of course if you step on somebodies toes locally that feels they have rights to the brand, you may be in for a hard time. They will try and scare you. However, in the process of threatening you, they themselves step onto thin ice sometimes.

A very well written honest article regarding computer equipment from an official channel source.
http://www.itweb.co.za/office/rectron/0408190832.htm
I am not copying the full article here, as this is just to show you what you may face. (They are not my competition)

The nasty underbelly of this game is dirty tactics, even hinting at stolen goods trying to smear the party involved in parallel imports. This may backfire in a court case.

http://www.wordinfo.co.za/wiki/Grey_market
The grey market (or gray market) usually refers to the flow of new goods through distribution channels other than those authorized or intended by the manufacturer or producer.

Grey market goods are not generally illegal. Instead, they are being sold outside of normal distribution channels by companies which may have no relationship with the producer of the goods. Frequently this form of parallel import occurs when the price of an item is significantly higher in one country than another. This situation commonly occurs with cigarettes and electronic equipment such as cameras. Entrepreneurs buy the product where it is available cheaply, often at retail but sometimes at wholesale, import it legally to the target market and sell it at a price which provides a profit but which is below the normal market price there. This an example of the economic practice called arbitrage.

International efforts to promote free trade, including reduced tariffs and harmonized national standards, facilitate the grey market where manufacturers attempt to preserve highly disparate pricing.
Click to expand...

More to read at the URL that is relevant.

Another one: http://www.wordinfo.co.za/wiki/Parallel_import
A parallel import is a non-counterfeit product imported from another country without the permission of the intellectual property owner. Parallel imports are often referred to as grey product, and are implicated in issues of international trade, HIV/AIDS management, and intellectual property.

Parallel importers ordinarily purchase products in one country at a price (P1) which is cheaper than the price at which they are sold in a second country (P2), import the products into the second country, and sell the products in that country at a price which is usually between P1 and P2.
Click to expand...

Read through this. It even make clear what the court's perception is on legally obtained material suddenly restricted later. That includes decisions that fly in the face of your End User Licence Agreement with Microsoft for that OS on your PC. ;)

While the above is not legal advice, it is a good summary of the best real information I have been able to obtain for myself. I hope it works for you.

Best of luck in your venture!
 
[Original Post]:eek: RAS![/Original Post]

The mods removed the offending post, so NotRAS! ;)
 
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My fiancé just got a speeding fine with an attached photo but no date at all. Is that Legal? don't they have to supply you with all the information for the fine to be valid?
Anyone know where I can go to check this out?
 
TheShogun said:
My fiancé just got a speeding fine with an attached photo but no date at all. Is that Legal? don't they have to supply you with all the information for the fine to be valid?
Anyone know where I can go to check this out?
Click to expand...
The date is vital because if they don't send the fine notice to you within that time it is invalid (30 days?).
 
I dont know if it's just me, but the PDFs at the beggining of this thread aren't working.

Don't know if it's just me, or they were re-posted somewhere else?
 
Information on citizens arrests

ld13 said:
REQUIREMENTS REGARDING THE USE OF FORCE DURING CITIZENS ARRESTS

1. In terms of Section 42 of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977 a South African Citizen has the right to arrest a Person(s) if he has a reasonable suspicion that said person(s) have committed an Offence
2. You must have the intention to arrest the suspect (i.e. your intent must be to arrest the suspect so that you can hand him over to the law enforcement agencies.)
3. You must have a reasonable belief or have actual knowledge of an offence having been committed by the suspect.
4. The suspect must have resisted or fled in the knowledge of your intention to arrest them. (Inform them of same asap)
5. Your use of force was necessary to secure compliance from the suspect and there was no other reasonable alternative.
Click to expand...
More about this and "Private Defense" as per SA law here (local link - 50KB)
and more "Citizen's Arrest extracts from Criminal Procedure Act" here (local link - 90KB)

:)

Source: http://www.bkmwatch.org.za/docs.aspx?categoryid=17
Click to expand...

.
 
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Debbie said:
1. In terms of Section 42 of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1977 a South African Citizen has the right to arrest a Person(s) if he has a reasonable suspicion that said person(s) have committed an offence[/B]
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Offence is interpreted as First Schedule Offences, and not all offences.

This includes any person who commits or attempts to commit an offence in your presence under a reasonable suspicion.
 
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Declaring Bankruptcy

Question:
I am considering declaring myself (as a private individual) insolvent. Please give me advice on this.

Answer:
Many people are under the impression that if they get into financial difficulty they can simply declare insolvency (the correct term is sequestration) and start with a clean slate. Nothing could be further from the truth.

If you have come to a point where your debt is out of hand and you just cannot repay it, you may have a choice between sequestration and debt counselling.

What are the pros and cons of each of these options?

The sequestration order-

You must apply for a sequestration order and it will not necessarily be granted. It depends on whether or not you own assets that can be sold to repay the creditors. There are costs associated with sequestration and your creditors will have to pay them out of your insolvent estate. If your assets are too small to cover the costs and bring in at least some money to the creditors it will not be worth it.

If you get a sequestration order your assets will be sold and each of your creditors who applies to be repaid will get a percentage. This percentage is expressed as a certain number of cents per Rand owed and is usually no less than 10 cents. The balance will be legally written off and this means you never have to pay it. For you this is probably the major benefit of sequestration — potentially getting up to 90 percent of your debt written off for good. There is also the peace of mind of knowing there will be no more harassment from creditors.

Creditors must make a claim against your insolvent estate and if they don’t their claims will be written off. Those who do make a claim will have to help pay the costs of sequestration. Only if there is any money left over will they share what’s left between them.

The best aspect of this option is that your creditors cannot keep coming back to you for more after they have made their claim and received their share. The only exception is if you suddenly start earning a substantial income that is considered to be significantly more than your monthly needs in which case some of that excess could be taken to settle your creditors’ outstanding claims. This rarely happens.

The downside of all this is that you lose your assets, have no control over how much they are sold for and you get none of the proceeds.

Debt counselling or administration-

Neither of these options allows any of the debt to be written off. You still owe the money. (I need to qualify this statement, however, because in the early stages of the debt counselling process, all indications are that the creditors may well agree to write off some of the capital or interest.) Debt counselling or administration simply allows the debts to be restructured and allows for payment to be made over a far longer time period, thereby decreasing the monthly instalment required. Unfortunately, in the long run you always pay more because interest mounts up.

The advantage of this approach is that it is possible that you can avoid losing everything this way. You may also manage to repay your creditors, get into a better position, bring down your expenses, perhaps get a better paying job and then pay more than is required. By doing this there is the potential that you might repay those debts once and for all rather than paying and paying and paying and not seeing any reduction in the amount still outstanding!

To summarize:

Sequestration allows you to write off some of your debt, perhaps even most of it, but you lose your assets. You will not be able to get credit again without the approval of the trustee (the person appointed by the court to manage your assets). You are very unlikely to get more credit and you will have to apply to be rehabilitated later, which isn’t that easy. It usually takes at least four years, meaning that for four years you cannot qualify for a loan or enter into any credit or financial agreements. Even once you have been rehabilitated you will battle to get credit for another five years (so that’s nine years all in all!) as the notice of rehabilitation which gets added to your credit record will discourage creditors from lending to you even though they are now allowed to. Also, you must first persuade your creditors that sequestration is the best option for them too. Because they pay something towards the costs, they can refuse to do this and then you have to go for the second option — debt counselling.

Debt counselling or administration means you keep your assets. However, someone else will decide how much you repay your creditors every month and they will only leave you with enough to live on. Stretching out your repayments in this way will help to make them more affordable and help you stay afloat. If you choose this route, try and find a way to reduce your monthly expenses so you can repay the debts faster. Consider moving in with family and renting out your house, sell your new car and buy an older one, sell as many possessions as you can (as long as they will bring in reasonable sums of money), etc.

The third option — do nothing, let your creditors take judgement against you and take your assets or a portion of your monthly salary. The consequences of this are a black mark on your credit record and you won’t be able to get credit. You will have sleepless nights for years to come, worrying whether the Sheriff will come knocking at any moment to take away your possessions. You may also have the Sheriff serve a garnishee order on your employer. This means they are forced to pay a portion of your salary directly to the creditor. This is very embarrassing and can reflect badly on your reputation at work. After all, this is personal information — not the kind of thing you want your employer or colleagues to know about. You may even have your home sold if the creditors cannot get enough by selling your other assets or garnishing your salary. Remember that most of your possessions lose value the moment you buy them, even your car. So your house, your one real asset, is at risk.
Click to expand...

Thanks Nanfeishan.
 
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Consider moving in with family and renting out your house, sell your new car and buy an older one
Click to expand...

Good advice, except a certain forumite will tell you to do it anyways and make reference to belts.
 
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