» Legislation and Compliances | SARS Compliance | Electronic Communication Act | FICA |
  Legislation and Compliances

Legislation and compliance information relevant to electronic document delivery:

A broad range of international legislation has emerged in the area of electronic document management and distribution, in order to curb inappropriate and unethical usage of this effective communication process. Although there are common threads in terms of legislations and best practice from country to country, there are specific requirements applicable to each country.

The common world wide requirements and trends that Email Connection fully adheres to are the following:

  • The respect and preservation of client information privacy through secure data and document     communication.
  • Reliable, secure and practical data and document storage and retrieval
  • The encryption of confidential, sensitive data or documentation during communication
  • Accurate, comprehensive, complete and real time reporting, audit trails, backups and transaction
        roll backs

    • All of the above ensure full compliance of the relevant country's Acts and Regulations.

    In South Africa these include:
  • South African Revenue Service Requirements
  • Electronic Communication and Transactions Act 25 2002
  • Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001

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         SARS Compliance requirements.

    Email Connection complies with the requirements of the South African Revenue Services (SARS) to send electronic tax invoices, credit and debit notes via e-mail, whereby the recipient is able to claim their input tax back from the electronic document which is sent as an original document and treated in the same manner as a paper based document i.e. it is a valid invoice which reflects an expense (company or private) to the designated party on the invoice to whom it is delivered electronically.

    The following requirements, as set out below, ensure compliance by Email Connection to be a SARS certified vendor.

     All documents must comply with sections 20 and 21 of the Value-Added Tax Act, 1991.
    Email Connection complies fully with these sections.

    All Value Added Tax (VAT) documents must be transmitted in encrypted form, using at least 128-bit encryption.
    Email Connection Encrypts all Documents in 128-bit Encryption and in addition includes an exclusive and unique digital document identification system.

    All parties in the document flow process (suppliers, recipients and Email Connection) must retain documents in a readable and encrypted form for five years from the date of generation, receipt or supply.
    Email Connection's implementation and training process ensures compliance by all the necessary parties.

    Encrypted documents must be comparable with the paper based documents.
    Email Connection goes further by generating documents that has the same "look and feel" as the paper based document.

    Original tax documents generated and sent in electronic format must clearly display "Tax Invoice". Any copy extracted from the system, must automatically include "Copy Tax Invoice".
    Email Connection's systems automatically identify the same documents going through its system and changes the document heading from "original tax invoice" to "copy tax invoice"
     

    Email Connection was the first vendor in South Africa to introduce electronic document conversion and delivery and
    E-billing (the sending of original tax documents by e-mail). Since the company's inception there has been no discrepancies that have rendered any parties' (suppliers, vendors or recipients) tax documents invalid.

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         Electronic Communication and Transaction Act 25 of 2002

    This act was established to:
  • Facilitate and regulate electronic communications and transactions to protect the public.
  • Provide a standardised platform for national e-strategy.
  • Alight South Africa with international electronic communications and transaction strategy and     benchmarks.
  • To empower SMMEs to compete in the electronic communications arena.
  • To provide for human resource development in electronic transactions: to prevent abuse of     information systems;
  • To promote the use of e-government services.
  • To legally equate paper based commerce and electronic commerce.

    Email Connection fulfils the applicable requirements of the above act, as a service provider, primarily dealing with document retention and security.

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         Financial Intelligence Centre Act 38 of 2001 (FICA)

    The rules and regulations of this act deal with proper record keeping, client verification and identification, and disclosure of suspicious and unusual transactions.


    Digital signature legislation is not in place yet in South Africa. Common law currently regulates data protection and electronic communication as well to address the legality of the use of digital signatures in South Africa. Many corporates have implemented digital signatures as an additional security and authentication procedure in anticipation of the incorporation of the inclusion within either of the acts.

    Email Connection fulfils the applicable requirements of the above act, as a service provider, primarily dealing with document retention and security.