A few weeks ago we brought you some in-depth information regarding the right to repair act. The act will be implemented on the 1st of July 2021 and it seems to have shaken up the automotive industry. However, the automotive sector has welcomed the changes and recognised the potential opportunities going forward. In our first report, we did not managed to get any form of communication form NAAMSA, however they have recently released a statement on the subject.
It is worth mentioning that the South African automotive industry has contributed immensely towards the development of the Automotive Aftermarket Guidelines which were formally published by the Competition Commission of South Africa [CCSA] on December 10, 2020. naamsa, the Automotive Business Council working together with all its members and its strategic partners is ready to accelerate South Africa’s move to a new dispensation that would promote, deepen and broaden inclusion and encourage greater competition and participation of small businesses, particularly those who are coming from Historically Disadvantaged Individuals [HDIs] and groups within our communities.
Since the Guidelines were officially announced less than six months ago, the automotive industry has been and will continue to prepare for the implementation which becomes effective from July 01, 2021. The auto-industry is currently assessing its state of readiness and views the introduction of the Guidelines as a positive disruption, which will further enhance and hasten the sector’s transformation ambitions by providing tangible opportunities that would overtime enlarge economic access to the automotive aftermarket by HDI-owned Independent Services Provider [ISP].
“Having registered and internalised how South Africa’s indifferent past affects HDI’s potential entry into the automotive value chain, naamsa will be introducing a number of progressive interventions to help us drive holistic transformation efforts of the industry and assist in lowering barriers to entry and ensure that a greater number of firms, especially firms owned and operated by HDIs and SMEs have an opportunity to undertake service, maintenance and repair work of motor vehicles within the period covered by a motor vehicle warranty”, said Mikel MABASA, naamsa CEO.
“While we remain committed to the implementation of the Guidelines, naamsa has noted with concern some reckless and persistent misrepresentation and miscommunication of what the Guidelines are all about. There are individuals and irresponsible groups who have made it their preoccupation to make public pronouncements that misrepresent and/or distort the true meaning behind the intent and the spirit of some of the principles within the Guidelines in order to advance their narrow selfish commercial interests. To this effect, naamsa will join the Competition Commission to distribute public educational material in order to intensify accurate messaging campaigns around the Guidelines”, MABASA said.
“We are working with all our members and partners to adequately ensure that the kick-off date for the implementation of the Guidelines is not disruptive in anyway and that all the principles are accurately communicated to all our vehicle owners, our customers and to general public. We reaffirm that any orderly executed transformation programme should be seen as a process and not an event nor a quick fix, tick-box exercise. naamsa is under no illusion that the overwhelming majority of the principles contained in the Guidelines will be ready for implementation on July 01”.
“As part of our engagement efforts, we will meet with the Competition Commission in the coming weeks to share our general state of readiness. We are mindful that not all our members are at the same level or state of readiness. For this reason, we will transparently discuss our existing implementation plans ahead of July 01 and carefully consider how those principles, which may not be fully ready for implementation will be phased in to ensure full adoption and compliance within a reasonable time frame period. Once fully aligned, members of the public will be kept informed at every step in order to ensure that accurate information is communicated timely at all times”, MABASA said.
