Insight type: Legal Alert

The African Union (AU) is commemorating African Integration Day in a two-day event in Lusaka, Zambia between 6 and 8 July 2022 exploring the e-commerce potential of the Single African Market. On 8 July 2022 the Boma of Africa will make its third return since 2019. The Boma features a three-part exposition of major pan-African initiatives together with a global symposium to take stock of progress towards the AU’s Agenda 2063.

ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance), a concept formerly considered to be a first-world phenomenon, is unquestionably a global one. It refers to a broad range of environmental, social and governance factors that businesses are progressively inculcating into their way of doing business. These factors have also been used to set the criteria upon which ‘socially responsible investors or conscious investors’ assess whether to invest in any given company.

 

The global cost of cybercrime is expected to reach an estimated USD 6 trillion by the end of 2022 and USD 10.5 trillion by 2025. These estimates represent a staggering leap in the frequency and scope of cybercrime which reached a record high of approximately USD 1 trillion in 2020, according to The Hidden Costs of Cybercrime report by McAfee. 

 

On 29 June 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria (the CBN) approved and issued the risk-based cybersecurity framework guidelines for other financial institutions (OFIs) in Nigeria (the Guidelines). The Guidelines have been issued further to the CBN’s effort to strengthen the cyber resilience of OFIs, especially following the increase in the number and sophistication of cybersecurity threats and attacks against OFIs.

The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Planning issued the Value Added Tax (Digital Marketplace Supply) (Amendment) Regulations, 2022 (the DMS Amendment Regulations), through a Legal Notice dated 4 April 2022 which was published in the Kenya Gazette on 27 May 2022. The DMS Amendment Regulations were laid before the National Assembly on 09 June 2022 when the 12th Parliament was adjourned and are still yet to undergo the full legislative process and their legal validity is therefore in question.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court at Nairobi (the Court) on 22 April 2022 temporarily suspended the enforcement of the amendments to the National Health Insurance Fund Act, 1998 (the Principal Act) in a petition, by the Federation of Kenya Employers v National Health Insurance Fund Management Board & Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Health and 3 others, challenging the constitutionality of the amendments (the Petition). 

 

In addition to the Employment Amendment Act, the other bill signed into law by the President on April 4, 2022, is the Industrial Training (Amendment) Act 2022 (the IT Amendment Act). The IT Amendment Act amends the Industrial Training Act (Chapter 237 Laws of Kenya) (the Act) which regulates the training of employees engaged in specified industries.

On 23 March 2021, Zambia’s Parliament enacted the Data Protection Act No 3 of 2021 (the DPA) to regulate the collection and storage of “personal data” (that is data that can be used to identify an individual, such as a person’s name or identification number) of individuals in Zambia.

On April 4, 2022, the President signed five bills into law including the Employment (Amendment) Act 2022 (the Amendment Act) which amends section 9 (General provisions of a contract of service) of the Employment Act 2007 (the Act). The purpose of the amendment is to reprieve job seekers who are often required to fulfil heavy documentation requirements when applying for work. These include clearance or compliance certificates from some or all of the following agencies: the Kenya Revenue Authority, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Higher Education Loans Board, the Credit Reference Bureau and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. 

The Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning (MOLPP) has been undertaking the process of conversion and migration of land titles issued under the following repealed statutes namely the Indian Transfer of Property Act, the Government Lands Act, the Registration of Titles Act, the Land Titles Act and the Registered Land Act.