PPC new BEE rating and the construction code's applicability

This is very interesting.  PPC announced that the have moved up from a level 4 to level three in their latest rating.  This is actually so important that they have made a JSE SENS announcement as well.

They haven't actually updated their website so I haven't seen the certificate but I surmise from the article that they used the DTI's codes to get there. 

PPC met its objectives in almost all of the Department of Trade and Industry’s code of good practice scorecard pillars, with notable increases in scores relating to employment equity, enterprise development and socioeconomic development

If they did use the DTI's codes then this brings up an interesting debate about which scorecard they should follow.  I presented a Construction Codes seminar around the country earlier this year and one of the delegates came from a cement manufacturing company and asked why she should attend the breakfast they are a manufacturing company that derives its income from the construction industry.  This posed a bit of a conundrum so I looked at the code itself

Code 2000, paragraph 3 (précised) says

Any company that conducts any construction-related activity must determine what percentage of their turnover is derived from construction
if the majority of their turnover is derived  from construction related activities then the charter is applicable

The construction sector is defined under the interpretations and definitions (page 29) as

all enterprises that are involved in the

• creation
• expansion
• maintenance

of fixed assets related to residential, or non-residential buildings, infrastructure or any other form of construction works in South Africa

This is difficult, manufacturers like PPC are indirectly involved in all three bullet points.  Is this link then strong enough for them to find the construction code applicable to them.  The available evidence suggests that the verification agency doing PPC might have thought that there was no strong link between them and the construction code.  However before I make any rash conclusions I need to consider

Date of applicability of the construction code

The preamble to the codes (notice 862) announces that

this notice is effective from the date of publishing (5 June 2009) and means that the Construction Sector Code is binding on all stakeholders operating in the construction sector

Does this mean that if the code falls into your measurement period then you are suddenly bound by it?  I would think not - but I have heard of VAs who seem to think so.

It is possible that the measurement period that PPC used might have pre-dated the gazetting of the construction code and that's why they used the DTI's COGP.  This sentiment is now common cause - there is nothing in the construction code that says it is retrospectively applicable.

Comments

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