In April 2021, Parliament extended the ongoing nation-wide state of public emergency (“SoE”) for a further period of 6 (six) months. In terms of the Emergency Powers (Covid-19) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations, 2020 [S.I. 63 of 2020] (the “Regulations”) certain acts are prohibited during the subsistence of the SoE. One such action, in terms of …
Personal privacy and data protection laws exist to prevent the unauthorised collection, processing, storage, use, or dissemination of personal data and to protect you (the data subject/owner) from any breaches to that protection. There is currently no legislation in Botswana that exclusively deals with protection of personal data. Personal data protection is found in a …
Further to our previous newsflash on the topic Implications of Botswana’s Anti-Money Laundering Blacklisting by the EU, we hereby give a compliance update on Botswana’s current situation and progress as at 1 March 2021 with respect to addressing strategic technical compliance deficiencies in its anti-money laundering/combat the financing of terrorism (“AML/CFT”) regime. Put at its …
Bookbinder Business Law, in its capacity as Botswana legal counsel, has advised London Stock Exchange Group (“LSEG”) on the Botswana competition law aspects of its LSEG’s all share acquisition of Refinitiv. This transaction was approved by the Botswana Competition and Consumer Authority on 4 March 2020. The transaction closed on 29 January 2021. The USD27,000,000,000 …
The Rules of the High Court (Amendment) Rules, 2021 (“the Amendment Rules”) came into effect on 08 January 2021. The Amendment Rules bring about some interesting developments, which we highlight below for your perusal: 1. MONITORING TIMELINES FOR JUDGMENTS & WRITS 1.1 The Registrar is now mandated to monitor compliance with judicial standards for delivery …
Recent forecasts suggest that Africa will be one of the world’s fastest growing regions by 2030. Among the contributing factors is its youthful population which will result in one of the largest labour pools by 2050. This presents an opportunity for investors – foreign, intra-African and local – as does the continent’s significant infrastructure gap …
Hon Minister of Finance and Development Planning, Dr T Matsheka delivered his second budget against the background of the Covid-19 pandemic (and its resultant impact on the domestic economy) together with the recently completed mid-term review of National Development Plan (NDP) 11. Government previously approved P14.5bn towards the Economic Recovery and Transformation Plan (ERTP) in …
In light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to increased remote working, there has been an increased need for companies to adopt the use of electronic signatures to authorise agreements and instructions. What follows is a brief overview of the law and practice of electronic signatures under Botswana law. Are electronic signatures legally …
On 13 February 2020, Botswana, along with 23 other jurisdictions, was included on an updated list of high-risk third jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering/ counter financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regimes published by the European Commission of the European Union (“EU”). Further, to the classification of Botswana as a high-risk third country, the …
Bookbinder Business Law advises Botswana Development Corporation Limited (“BDC”) on the issuance and listing of BWP162,140,000 Notes in terms of BDC’s BWP1,000,000,000 Domestic Medium Term Note Programme (“Programme”) on the Botswana Stock Exchange. Bookbinder Business Law acted as legal counsel to BDC on the update of the Programme and subsequent issuance (by means of a …
