As of the 5th of May 2015, communication from the Dti confirms the following:
1. If your financial year-end is before the 30th of April 2015 and you have not yet completed your verification, you may continue to obtain a verification using the 2007 Codes requirements. However, if your financial year end is after the 1st of May 2015, you will be required to use the 2013 Codes requirements, unless the Sector Codes are applicable to you.
2. If you are measured under a Sector Code, you may continue being rated according to that Code, as the transition period has been extended to the 31st of October 2015.
Therefore, under certain conditions, an organisation can still qualify under the 2007 BEE Codes Of Good Practice and receive a Qualifying Small Enterprise (QSE) BEE Certificate. Under the 2007 Codes Of Good Practice, a QSE is an organisation with an annual turnover between R5 and R35 million.
As per the 2013 BEE Codes Of Good Practice, a business with an annual turnover higher than R10 million but lower than R50 million qualifies as a QSE.
QSEs are measured against all five criteria on the amended 2013 BEE Scorecard:
1. Ownership
2. Management Control
3. Skills Development
4. Enterprise and Supplier Development
5. Socio-Economic Development
QSEs with black ownership receive the following BEE ratings:
• 100% Black-Owned QSE – Level 1
• 51% or more Black-Owned QSE – Level 2
To receive a QSE certificate, QSEs are required to qualify as an “Empowering Supplier” under ONE of the following criteria:
• At least 25% of cost of sales, excluding labour costs and depreciation, must be procured from local producers or local suppliers in SA. (For the service industry, labour costs are included but capped at 15%).
• 50% of jobs created go to black people (and the number of black employees since the previous verified BBBEE audit is maintained).
• At least 25% transformation of raw material/beneficiation, which includes local manufacturing, production and/or assembly, and/or packaging, OR at least 85% of labour costs, should be paid to South African employees by service industry organisations.
• At least 12 days per annum of productivity are deployed in assisting black EME and QSE beneficiaries to increase their operational or financial capacity. (Note: if a QSE is not an Empowering Supplier, their suppliers will not be able to claim expenditure spent with them when getting verified.)
