BEE certificates issued by un-accredited verification agencies after 1 Feb 2010, may not be accepted as valid proof of a company's BEE status.    A notice in the government gazette published last year, confirms that from 1 Feb 2010 "only certificates issued by accredited verification agencies or verification agencies that are in possession of a valid pre-assessment letter from South African National Accreditation Systems (SANAS) will be valid"

Verification agencies are accredited by SANAS to certify that the contributions made by companies to Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment are valid.    The result of their procedures is a BEE certificate.    Prior to 1 Feb 2010 any verification agency could issue a BEE certificate.   

As a result of this change, users of BEE certificates can be certain that the certificate has been prepared by a verification agency that has met the stringent requirements of SANAS accreditation.   These requirements ensure that verification agencies operate under the principles of impartiality, competence, responsibility for verification decisions, openness and confidentiality.   They also ensure that these principles are properly implemented throughout the agencies management system.  

Agencies that have demonstrated to SANAS that their system is compliant with the requirements of accreditation, but who have not completed the accreditation process are issued a pre-assessment letter.   They then have four months to complete the accreditation process, during which time they may issue BEE Certificates.    Upon expiry of their 4 month period they will be unable to issue BEE certificates. 

Certificates issued by all verification agencies prior to the 1 Feb 2010 will be valid for the full 12 month tenure, after which they must be renewed by an accredited verification agency, or an agency in possession of a pre-assessment letter.

Both these categories of Verification Agencies are listed on the ABVA website (www.abva.co.za) under the section, Find an ABVA Member: Approved members listing. Agencies that have obtained their pre-assessment letter are also listed under the Members category on the ABVA website.

The SANAS website (www.sanas.co.za) also lists the current Accredited Agencies as well as their scope of accreditation which depicts the office and region where the Agency has obtained accreditation,  as well as the Technical Signatories (individuals accredited by SANAS) who have been accredited to sign off BEE certificates in the market place.

ABVA is the only website available at present where both accredited and approved agencies are listed.

The implementation of this cut-off is welcomed by the industry and serves to create further confidence in the credibility of BEE certificates.

........................................................................................................................ / ENDS

For more information contact Grace Kadzere at Red Flag Design & Marketing: (011) 447 8283, grace@redflag.co.za