Companies and Close Corporations

Practice Note No 1 of 2004

Manners of Payment for services rendered by the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (CIPRO)

A notice was published in Government Gazette No 26064 of 18 February 2004 abolishing revenue stamps as a manner of payment for services rendered by CIPRO under the Companies Act, 1973, and the Close Corporations Act, 1984. This Practice Note is intended to provide guidelines to current and future clients of CIPRO regarding how payment can be affected for the relevant services to be rendered by CIPRO. Payment for services to be rendered by CIPRO will work on a ‘pre-paid’ basis. The interaction with CIPRO is a four step process: 1. Register with CIPRO as a customer. 2. Deposit money into the pre-paid CIPRO account established during registration. 3. Request services from CIPRO through the lodgement of an application. 4. Obtain results from CIPRO.

1 Register with CIPRO as a customer Every person interacting with CIPRO, whether as an individual or as a user of bulk services will be registered on the CIPRO Computer System as a customer. During this process, a pre-paid account will be established for the customer. This process will assist CIPRO in minimising the data captured on individual forms (as the person will now in future only use the customer code) and CIPRO is also able to fax, e-mail and SMS results, news or updates to the CIPRO customer group created on the database. The customer should, after registration, use the customer code on all future transactions including deposits to effect payment, lodgements and requests for disclosure of information. (The deposit of funds into the account is discussed in more detail in paragraph 2 below while lodgements and other requests are discussed in paragraph 3 below.) It would therefore fast track future interaction with CIPRO. If a customer submits an application without a customer code, the transaction will be rejected. If an application contains the customer code, but upon receiving the application, no funds are in the account, the application will also be rejected.

COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION OFFICE P.O. BOX 429, Pretoria, 0001 • Republic of South Africa Contact centre: 0861 843 384 • http://www.cipro.gov.za Registration takes place once only for every customer. During Customer Registration, the following credentials must be furnished:  Full Name  Physical address and postal code  Postal Address and area code  For a natural person, RSA ID number, passport number, date of birth or a foreign country’s equivalent of an ID number.  For a body corporate, Registration Number: This could include Company Registration Number, Close Corporation Registration Number, Trust Number, etc. These registration numbers may be local or foreign. If the body corporate does not have a registration number, one of the natural persons associated to the body corporate must register as a natural person.  Password (This is required to gain access to the CIPRO Website).  Telephone area code and number  Fax area code and number  E-mail address  Docex address where applicable  Cell phone number The above information will be used to forward additional information to customers or even approved applications/certificates. Please note that CIPRO will maintain confidentiality and will not make this information available to anyone.

Prospective customers must register as CIPRO customers using one of the following mechanisms: 1.1 CIPRO Customer Contact Centre Call the CIPRO Customer Call Centre at 0861 843 384. Ask the Call Centre Operator to be registered as a customer. The Call Centre Operator will obtain the credentials listed above from the prospective customer. The Operator will register the prospective customer with CIPRO, obtain a customer code from CIPRO and provide it to the customer who should use it on all applications. 1.2 CIPRO Website Access the CIPRO Website at http://cipro.co.za and complete the form on-line.

COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION OFFICE P.O. BOX 429, Pretoria, 0001 • Republic of South Africa Contact centre: 0861 843 384 • http://www.cipro.gov.za Persons who do not have access to the Web can make use of one of the Public Internet Terminals (PIT) available in most Post Offices. This service is currently free of charge. Follow the links “Register as a CIPRO Customer”. Complete the registration form by furnishing the required information and record the account number allocated for future use. 1.3 CIPRO Walk In Centre Visit the CIPRO Walk In Centre at the CIPRO Office (currently only available at the CIPRO main building but soon to be extended to other major centres) where a CIPRO representative will assist with the registration process. The CIPRO representative will furnish the customer with a customer code to be used in subsequent transactions. Funds can be paid into this account at the cashier facility.

2 Deposit money into the pre-paid CIPRO account established during registration Before requesting fee-carrying services from CIPRO, deposit funds into your CIPRO pre-paid account. Funds available on account are not earmarked for a specific purpose and will be used on a first come basis per transaction or application. Deposit money into your CIPRO account using one of the following mechanisms: 2.1 Post Office As from 1 April 2004, the Post Office will accept payment on behalf of CIPRO. The service will initially be available at major post offices. Watch the Press and CIPRO Website for details on the expansion of this service. Approach an attendant with a request to make a deposit into your account at CIPRO. The attendant will be able to assist you in calculating the required fee. Have your CIPRO Customer Code available. The Post Office will accept cash, debit cards and credit cards. The Post Office will also provide you with a receipt, which must be kept for future reference. Allow one working day for the deposit to be reflected in your CIPRO account before lodging your application at CIPRO. You can also mail your application to CIPRO from any Post Office. 2.2 Direct Deposit Make a direct deposit into the CIPRO bank account. The CIPRO Bank Account details are as follows: Bank Name: ABSA Bank Account Number: 4055 68 1017 Account Name: CIPRO Companies Account Type: Deposit account Branch Name: Van Der Walt Street Branch

COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION OFFICE P.O. BOX 429, Pretoria, 0001 • Republic of South Africa Contact centre: 0861 843 384 • http://www.cipro.gov.za Branch Code: 323345 In order for CIPRO to allocate the direct deposit to your CIPRO account, please furnish your customer code as a deposit reference. Please allow two working days for CIPRO to allocate the deposit to your account for deposits made at ABSA Branches and four working days for deposits made at other banks. These periods are under review and might change. As an additional safeguard to ensure correct allocation of direct deposits to your account, you may fax the deposit slip to CIPRO at 0866 747 848, marked for attention Finance Department and remember to include your customer code as reference. Direct deposits may be made at any bank or via their other services that will allow deposits (such as Internet Banking). 2.3 Internet Credit Card Payment Make an Internet Credit Card Payment by logging on to the CIPRO website using your account number and password (obtained during registration) and following the links Our Customers, Credit Card Deposit. Enter the amount to be deposited from your credit card and select ‘Make Secure Online Deposit’. This will redirect you to the ABSA Online Payments gateway where you will be requested to furnish your credit card details. Upon successful conclusion of the transaction, ABSA will send a confirmation message to CIPRO and your CIPRO account will be updated with the deposited amount. Please note that this service is not available to users of bulk services.

3 Request services from CIPRO After depositing sufficient funds into your CIPRO account you may proceed to request services from CIPRO. The normal service channels are unaffected by this change with the exception that revenue stamps may no longer be attached to service requests. Services may be requested by delivering completed application forms to CIPRO by means of:  Ordinary mail  Registered Mail  Courier  Docex  Personal delivery to the CIPRO Office.  Internet based applications on the CIPRO Internet Website for selected services. Instead of attaching revenue stamps to applications, clearly mark your application with your customer code. Your account will be checked to see whether sufficient funds are

COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION OFFICE P.O. BOX 429, Pretoria, 0001 • Republic of South Africa Contact centre: 0861 843 384 • http://www.cipro.gov.za available. If so, only the fee for the specific service is deducted from your account. If insufficient or no funds are available, the application will be rejected at point of entry.

4 Obtain results from CIPRO After processing the application, CIPRO will dispatch the result to the address furnished by you at customer registration. In certain instances, fees initially deducted upon lodgement of applications that were queried, will be credited to your CIPRO account on the evening following the dispatch of the queried application. (Some forms carry a non-refundable lodgement fee.) If the fee was credited to your account, you may re-lodge the corrected application or another application for which you have sufficient funds left in your account.

5 Additional Services 5.1 Maintain your Registration Details Maintain your registration details on the CIPRO Website, by calling the Customer Contact Centre or by visiting the Walk In Centre. 5.2 Account Enquiries Enquiries regarding the state of your account can be obtained on the CIPRO Website or by calling the Customer Contact Centre. The website reports your current balance and you can view, print or save a list of transactions. 5.3 Invoices CIPRO will no longer send out invoices. Make use of the Account Enquiries mentioned above to review and print details of your own account. Please note that services rendered by CIPRO are exempted from VAT. 5.4 Progress Tracking Enquire regarding the progress of your applications on the CIPRO Website or by calling the Customer Contact Centre. 5.5 Refunds In cases where you prefer not to proceed and wish to claim your deposited amount, direct your request as follows: Write a letter to CIPRO addressed to ‘The Finance Department’. Clearly state your customer code, amount to be refunded, reasons for requiring the refund, receipt number (where available), proof of identity (such as a certified copy of your ID Book) and full banking details of the account into which you would like the refund to be deposited. Refunds will only be considered up to the maximum amount available in your account. CIPRO will check your account, contact you using information supplied during

COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION OFFICE P.O. BOX 429, Pretoria, 0001 • Republic of South Africa Contact centre: 0861 843 384 • http://www.cipro.gov.za registration to confirm the details, deduct the amount to be refunded and process an Electronic Bank Transfer of the refund amount into your bank account.

6 Contact Information If you have any queries, contact CIPRO at any one of the following addresses: E-mail to: [email protected] Fax to: 0866 747 848 Mail to: P.O. Box 429, Pretoria, 0001 Phone the Customer Contact Centre at: 0861 843 384 Website: http://www.cipro.co.za

COMPANIES AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REGISTRATION OFFICE P.O. BOX 429, Pretoria, 0001 • Republic of South Africa Contact centre: 0861 843 384 • http://www.cipro.gov.za