How to Register a Business as an Essential Service
If you wondered how to register a business as an essential service, you are not alone. The information about it is not freely available and unless you are connected online you cannot easily register. The Bizportal website on which you have to register your Essential Service business also does not have online support if you encounter issues. South African businesses are however now able to apply online and automatically download a certificate to prove they are Essential Service providers, as the country geared up to implement the national lockdown.
During this period, only businesses deemed essential by government will be able to continue trading as “Essential Service providers”.
It is a criminal offence for any business to continue operating during the lockdown period if it is not providing an essential service, as defined in the applicable regulations and direction, unless such business can be operated using work-from-home arrangements.
Minister of Trade and Industry Ebrahim Patel announced that businesses can apply for required certification via the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission’s Bizportal website (www.bizportal.gov.za/). Businesses which are registered with the CIPC such as companies, close corporations and co-operatives will be able to apply for certification.
A list of businesses recognised as essential services has been gazetted by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. The gazette (Regulation Gazette 43148) indicates that essential goods and services include grocery stores, pharmacies, spaza shops, and funeral services, among others.
CIPC official Ofentse Shakung was quoted to say that the application and registration process would be “immediate”. It is an automatic electronic process and certification for Essential Services will be made available instantly. “The process will be completely electronic, on the BizPortal website. A physical certificate will also be issued on the same website,” Shakung said. Businesses will be able to apply throughout the duration of the lockdown period.
According to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) the process, How to Register a Business as an Essential Services Provider is as follows:
STEP 1 How to register an Essential Service Provider:
Go to the Bizportal website at https://bizportal.gov.za/, which looks like this:
STEP 2 How to register a business for essential services
After clicking on the Services tab, on the top right of the page, you will be taken to a new page with icons. The icon you want to click on next is the Covid-19 essential services icon – which is bright red.
STEP 3 How to register a business for essential service on the Bizportal wesbite
Once you click on this Covid-19 essential services icon, you will be taken to another page where you will be able to make an application to the CIPC. The page includes a list of essential services. Scroll down to the bottom where you will find the application icon.
STEP 4 How to register an essential services business:
According to the DTI, the application will be a “simple declaration”, requiring minimal registration details, including this such as the type of business/trade, trading name, whether it meets the requirements contained in the essential services list. The list of essential services is available on the website too.
The person applying must fill out their contact details, as well as the number of employees that will be working during the lockdown period.
The CIPC registry will then pre-populate the remaining company information.
A certificate stating that the business is allowed to remain trading will be emailed or can be downloaded from the site.
The certificate can then be used as evidence to authorities – to show the business has been given government permission to trade, according to the DTI. The business’s employees will have unrestricted movement, only in the course of the trade.
“It should be stressed and noted that if you make a false application to the CIPC, and are indeed not an essential service as per the government regulations, such will be taken as a fraudulent application and will render yourself as applicant liable to criminal prosecution and sanction,” the DTI warned.
The full list of Essential Services can be found here: https://www.bizportal.gov.za/essential_service.aspx
Businesses can only apply if they belong to this list of Essential Services categories:
- Health, Medical, Laboratory and medical services
- Emergency services, Disaster, Fire, EMS
- Finance, Banking, JSE/exchangers, insurance
- Production and sale Category A regulations goods
- Grocery stores, Spaza shops
- Electricity, water, gas, fuel supply and maintain
- Care services, social relief of distressed
- Funeral service, mortuaries
- Wildlife, anti-poaching, animal care, veterinary
- Newspaper, broadcasting, telecommunications
- Hygiene chemicals, medical, pharmaceutical
- Cleaning, sanitation, sewerage, waste removal
- Postal, courier, transport of medical products
- Private security services
- Air-traffic, Civil Aviation, Cargo Shipping
- Essential mining, Gold, gold refinery, coal
- Supply, critical repair on essential service
- Transport essential staff, good and patients
- Tow trucks, vehicle recovery
- Call Centre for health safety social support
- Harvest and storage agricultural goods
- Pest control
- Sale of baby clothes
- Implementation of payroll systems
- Critical maintenance which cannot be delayed
- Emergency repairs,plumbers,locksmith,electrician
- Emergency automobile repairs for essential service
- ICT rendered to entities of essential service
Non-Profit Organisations cannot register as Essential Services
Nuus.News tested the bizportal registration facility to see whether Non-Profit Organizations with NPO registration numbers can register as Essential Services.
It found that it is not possible. See the screenshot below:
It is strange that Government would miss such an important factor in providing Essential Services to the South African public. There are thousands of NPO’s that can be very effective in helping where Government cannot. This is an omission that needs to be addressed. (This is up to date as of 27/4/2020)
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