Definitions

In the Currency and Exchanges guidelines for business entities, unless the context indicates otherwise:

ADLA means an Authorised Dealer in foreign exchange with limited authority, including Bureaux de Change, independent money transfer operators and value transfer service providers, who are authorised by the Financial Surveillance Department to deal in foreign exchange transactions as determined by the Financial Surveillance Department.

ADLA Manual means the Currency and Exchanges Manual for ADLAs issued by the Financial Surveillance Department to ADLAs under the powers delegated by the Minister of Finance. The ADLA Manual contains the permissions, conditions and limits applicable to the transactions in foreign exchange that may be undertaken by ADLAs and/or on behalf of their clients, as well as details of related administrative responsibilities.

Affected person means a body corporate, foundation, trust or partnership operating in South Africa, or an estate, in respect of which:

(i) 75 per cent or more of the capital, assets or earnings thereof may be utilised for payment to, or to the benefit in any manner of, any person who is not resident in South Africa; or

(ii) 75 per cent or more of the voting securities, voting power, power of control, capital, assets or earnings thereof, are directly or indirectly vested in, or controlled by or on behalf of, any person who is not resident in South Africa.

Africa means any country forming part of the African Union.

Authorised Dealer means, in relation to any transaction in respect of gold, a person authorised by the Financial Surveillance Department to deal in gold and, in relation to any transaction in respect of foreign exchange, a person authorised by the Financial Surveillance Department to deal in foreign exchange.

Authorised Dealer Manual means the Currency and Exchanges Manual for Authorised Dealers issued by the Financial Surveillance Department to Authorised Dealers under the powers delegated by the Minister of Finance. The Authorised Dealer Currency and Exchanges Manual contains the permissions, conditions and limits applicable to the transactions in foreign exchange that may be undertaken by Authorised Dealers and/or on behalf of their clients, as well as details of related administrative responsibilities.

Capital goods mean tangible items (property, plant and equipment) that:

(i) are held for use in the production or supply of goods and services, for rental to others or for administrative purposes; and

(ii) are expected to be used during more than one period.

CFC account means a Customer Foreign Currency account conducted by residents in the nostro administration of an Authorised Dealer, in terms of the provisions of the Authorised Dealer Manual or in terms of a specific authority granted by the Financial Surveillance Department. Such accounts are held onshore and represent local assets denominated in foreign currency.

CISCA means the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act, 2002 (Act No. 45 of 2002).

CMA means the Common Monetary Area, which consists of Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and eSwatini.

Cross-border foreign exchange transaction means the purchase or sale of foreign currency with or for Rand.

Customs means Customs and Excise, a division of the South African Revenue Service.

Financial assistance includes the lending of currency, the granting of credit, the taking up of securities, the conclusion of a hire purchase or a lease, the financing of sales or stocks, discounting, factoring, the guaranteeing of acceptance credits, the guaranteeing or acceptance of any obligation, a suretyship, a buy-back and a leaseback, but excluding:

(i) the granting of credit by a seller in respect of any commercial transaction directly involving the passing of ownership of the goods sold from seller to purchaser; and

(ii) the granting of credit solely in respect of the payment for services rendered.

Financial Surveillance Department means the Financial Surveillance Department of the South African Reserve Bank (responsible for the administration of exchange control on behalf of the Treasury).

Foreign bank account means a foreign currency bank account conducted by residents with a bank outside the CMA in terms of the provisions of the Authorised Dealer Manual or a specific authority granted by the Financial Surveillance Department.

Foreign currency means any currency other than currency, which is legal tender in South Africa, but excludes the currencies of Lesotho, Namibia and eSwatini. Foreign currency is deemed to include any bill of exchange, letter of credit, money order, postal order, promissory note, travellers’ cheque or any other instrument of foreign exchange.

Foreign currency account means an account conducted by residents (natural persons and institutional investors only) and non-residents in the nostro-administration of Authorised Dealers in terms of the provisions of the Authorised Dealer Manual or a specific authority granted by the Financial Surveillance Department.

Foreign direct investment means the objective of obtaining a lasting interest by a resident entity in one economy (direct investor) in an entity resident in an economy other than that of the investor (direct investment enterprise). The lasting interest implies the existence of a long-term relationship between the direct investor and the direct investment enterprise, and a significant degree of influence on the management of the direct investment enterprise. A direct investment enterprise is defined as “an incorporated or unincorporated enterprise in which a foreign investor owns 10 per cent or more of the ordinary shares or voting power of an incorporated enterprise or the equivalent of an unincorporated enterprise.”

Gold as referred to in Regulations 2 and 5 includes all forms of gold other than wrought gold, as well as ingots, amalgam, concentrates or salts of gold buttons and trade scrap. Gold as referred to in Regulation 3 includes wrought gold and gold coins.

HoldCo means South African holding company for African and offshore operations.

Immigrants mean natural persons who emigrated from countries outside the CMA with the firm intention of taking up or who have taken up permanent residence in South Africa.

Integrated form means the electronic or paper format of a contract between an Authorised Dealer or ADLA and its client resulting in a balance-of-payments reporting obligation. It includes a declaration to the effect that the information provided is true and correct.

ITAC means International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa established in terms of section 7 of the International Trade Administration Act, 2002 (Act No. 71 of 2002).

Long-term Insurance Act means the Long-term Insurance Act, 1998 (Act No. 52 of 1998), as amended, in respect of long-term insurance.

MRN means the Movement Reference Number issued by Customs.

Non-resident means a person (i.e., a natural person or legal entity) whose normal place of residence, domicile or registration is outside the CMA.

Non-resident area means all countries other than those included in the CMA.

Non-resident Rand means Rand to or from a non-resident account that may be deemed, in certain circumstances permissible elsewhere in the Authorised Dealer Manual, as an acceptable payment mechanism in lieu of foreign currency. It should be noted that non-resident Rand cannot in any manner be defined as foreign currency. It is purely Rand held in a non-resident account or Rand received from a non-resident source.

Non-resident Rand account means the Rand account of a non-resident conducted in the books of an Authorised Dealer.

Passenger ticket means a ticket issued in respect of travel arrangements, inclusive of electronically issued tickets (e-tickets).

Rand means the monetary unit of South Africa as defined in section 15 of the South African Reserve Bank Act, 1989 (Act No. 90 of 1989).

Regulations mean the Exchange Control Regulations, 1961 as promulgated by Government Notice R.1111 of 1961-12-01, as amended from time to time.

Related party means a party to a transaction that has a direct or indirect interest in the other party and has the ability to control the other party or exercise significant influence over the other party in making financial and operating decisions or both parties are under common control. For the purpose of the Authorised Dealer Manual, this includes transactions between parties that belong to the same group of companies such as parent, subsidiary, fellow subsidiary and/or an associate company.

Reporting System means the electronic FinSurv Reporting System used to transmit data to the Financial Surveillance Department in an agreed format.

Resident means any person (i.e., a natural person or legal entity) who has taken up permanent residence, is domiciled or is registered in South Africa. For the purpose of the Authorised Dealers Manual, this excludes any approved offshore investments held by South African residents outside the CMA. However, such entities are still subject to the financial surveillance rules and the Regulations.

Resident temporarily abroad means any resident who has departed from South Africa to any country outside the CMA with no intention of taking up permanent residence or who has not been granted permanent residence in another country, excluding those residents who are abroad on holiday or business travel.

Restricted Authorised Dealer means a person authorised by the Financial Surveillance Department to deal in foreign exchange utilising a locally issued credit card for permissible cross border transactions.

SADC means the Southern African Development Community consisting of Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, eSwatini, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

SARS means the South African Revenue Service.

SARS Customs Declaration comprises the following set of documents:

(i) SARS Customs Declaration form, which is the form used by Customs to verify importers or exporters’ self-assessment of goods declared for a Customs procedure. The customs procedure is defined by the Procedure Category Code (A to L) in conjunction with the Customs Requested Procedure Code (RPC) on the declaration; and

(ii) SARS Customs Supporting documentation, which is the commercial documents (e.g., suppliers invoice, regulatory permit, transport document, currency conversion/duty calculation worksheet) upon which the Customs Declaration form is completed; and

(iii) SARS Customs Status Notification, which is the response issued by Customs (EDI Response Notification/Customs Release Notification) specifying the status or decision of Customs in respect of goods declared.

Securities include quoted stocks, shares, warrants, debentures and rights, as well as unquoted shares in public companies, shares in private companies, Government, Municipal and Public utility stocks, non-resident owned mortgage bonds and/or participations in mortgage bonds and short-term debt instruments. The terms scrip and share certificates include any temporary or substitute documents of title such as Letters of Allocation, Warrants, Letters of Allotments, Orphan Certificates, Balance Receipts and any other receipts for scrip.

Short-term Insurance Act means the Short-term Insurance Act, 1998 (Act No. 53 of 1998), as amended, in respect of short-term insurance.

South Africa means the Republic of South Africa.

Treasury means, in relation to any matter contemplated in the Regulations, the Minister of Finance or an officer in National Treasury who, by virtue of the division of work in National Treasury, deals with the matter on the authority of the Minister of Finance.