The nationwide lockdown period is governed by a robust Risk Adjusted Strategy; a 5 level system of alerts aimed at defining permissible levels of general movement, travel and economic activity. In his national address on May 13, 2020, President Ramaphosa announced that government is contemplating further easing the lockdown regulations for certain provinces to move from Alert Level 4 to Alert Level 3 by the end of May. We anticipate that over the next few days, government will issue further regulations and/or amendments to existing regulations, that will outline the guidelines and directives that govern the easing of trade and permitted commercial activities, while maintaining appropriate health and safety measures.

An example of a recently published regulation is Government Gazette No. 11113 issued on May 14, 2020 which provides directives and protocols which must be observed by retailers, couriers or delivery services and customers in relation to goods transacted through e-Commerce during Alert Level 4. Until May 14, 2020, all commercial activities have been limited to ‘essential services’ and ‘essential goods’ as defined by Government Gazette No 43258 (the “Regulations”) (e.g. supermarkets, medical facilities and pharmacies etc.). Under the newly published e-Commerce Regulations, all goods may be transacted through e-commerce platforms, except for goods prohibited for sale in terms of regulations 26 and 27 of the Regulations (such as liquor, tobacco, tobacco products, e-cigarettes and related products).

For further information, please reach out to Covington’s COVID-19 Task Force at COVID19@cov.com, Robert Kayihura at RKayihura@cov.com or Mosa Mkhize MMkhize@cov.com.

This post can also be found on CovAfrica, the firm’s blog on legal, regulatory, political and economic developments in Africa.