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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECOND-HAND GOODS ACT, 2009 (ACT NO. 6 OF
2009)
1.
The purpose of this guide is to―

Describe the principal elements of the Act briefly;

Describe the manner in which the transition from the dispensation under
the Second-Hand Goods Act, 1955 (Act No. 23 of 1955) to the
dispensation under the Second-Hand Goods Act, 2009 (Act No. 6 of 2009)
2009 Act will take place;
2.
THE PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS OF THE ACT
The objects of the Act are as follows:

To regulate dealers and recyclers;

To combat the trade in stolen goods; and

To promote ethical standards in the second-hand goods trade.
2.1 These objects firstly require of dealers to comply with the provisions of the Act
in respect of certificates of registration, the keeping of registers and other
information required under the Act. For this purpose, the Act provide for routine
inspections during which a Designated Second-Hand Goods Officer (the DSO)
may inspect the premises and registers of second-hand goods dealers.
2.2 Routine inspections
In terms of section 28 of the Act, the DSO of the station where the premises are
situated may enter the premises of a registered dealer during business hours in
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order to investigate compliance with the Act and check the following—

the certificate of registration relating to that premises;

registers and records relating to the goods on the premises;

any goods found in or on the premises; and

an entry or absence of any entry in the registers.
2.3 The purpose of a routine inspection is not to investigate the legitimate dealer,
but to ensure compliance.
2.4 Investigations
In terms of section 29, a police member must obtain a warrant to enter and
search premises and to seize items. The section also provides that premises
may be sealed off for a period not exceeding seven days, to prevent the
suspect from conducting business in contravention of the Act. Although the Act
contains exceptions to this general rule, investigators must take note that
premises may only be sealed off in terms of a warrant issued by a court.
2.5 Second-Hand Goods Dealers’ forums
The SAPS, the community and registered dealers must form cooperation
structures to ensure that the impunity with which thieves sell stolen property
through criminal dealers, is addressed.
For this purpose, all Station
Commanders should ensure that the DSO at the station establish and maintain
a forum where second-hand dealers are involved. Dealers from across the
spectrum of the industry must be represented (especially where criminal activity
may affect the crime trends in the area and type of business - e.g. scrap metal
dealers, pawnbrokers, auctioneers and vehicle dealers). The purpose of the
forum is to highlight issues of mutual interest and to allow dealers to provide
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information and indicate where the Act is not complied with.
2.6 Accredited Associations
Associations are accredited at national level only by FLASH.
Through
cooperation with accredited trade associations, the SAPS at national level will
ensure that the organised industry set proper ethical and legal standards for
their members. For this purpose, associations will monitor member dealers for
compliance with association rules. Where these rules are effectively applied,
the Minister of Police may exempt members from compliance with similar
provisions in the Act. All such exemptions will be published in the Government
Gazette and a dealer that is exempted must make the Gazette available on
demand.
If information regarding an association is required, the National
FLASH office may be contacted.
3.
IMPLEMENTATION
3.1 The Act, Regulations, forms and other documents are available electronically on
the SAPS website (http://www.saps.gov.za/crime_prevention/shg.htm) where it
may be downloaded when a dealer wants to apply for registration.
3.2 A dealer must submit an application for registration on the SAPS 601 at a police
station for every premises in the station area where second-hand goods are
traded or stored. The application is verified by the DSO and submitted to the
Station Commander.
4.
TRANSITION FROM THE 1955 ACT TO THE 2009 ACT
4.1 Section 43 of the Act provides as follows with regard to the transitional period:
43. (1) (a) Any person who, immediately before the commencement
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of this Act, carried on business as a dealer must, within three months
of the date of such commencement, apply for registration in terms of
section 3.
(b) If an application for registration has been lodged before the end
of the period provided for in paragraph (a), the dealer concerned
may continue carrying on the business in question, subject to
subsections (2) and (3), until the application is decided.
(2) A person contemplated in subsection (1) must enter into a
transitional register all the second-hand goods or pawned goods, as
the case may be, held by such person for such business purposes
until his or her application in terms of section 4 is decided.
(3) An entry referred to in subsection (2) must set out a full
description of the second-hand goods in question, indicating the
quantity and colour thereof, identification marks and any other
distinguishing features thereon and, in the case of controlled metal,
its description and weight and the value thereof as estimated by the
dealer concerned.
(4) A Designated Police Officer or a police official authorised by the
Designated Police Officer must endorse the last entry in the
transitional register and on each page thereof of every dealer that
applies for registration in terms of subsection (1).
4.2 Under section 43(1)(b), all dealers have three months to apply for registration.
In practice, a dealer therefore has until 30 July 2012 to apply for registration.
When a dealer lodges a SAPS 601, the DSO will issue an applicant with the
official acknowledgement of receipt - SAPS 601(c) - to verify that he or she
applied and such dealer may then carry on dealing until his or her application
has been decided.
4.3 Dealers who were issued with a certificate under of the 1955 Act valid for the
period 1 January 2012 until December 2012 may carry on business until 31
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December 2012 when the current certificate expires. The reason is, of course,
that the 2009 Act cannot apply retrospectively to dispense with certificates
issued before 30 April 2012.
4.4 This effectively means that all provisions that were in operation before 30 April
2009, must be applied when dealing with dealers who have not applied for or
received a certificate of registration under the 2009 Act.
4.5 As soon as a certificate is issued under the 2009 Act, the dealer (or recycler)
concerned must carry on his or her business in accordance with the 2009 Act.
If the application is refused, the applicant should be informed that he or she
may appeal to the Minister. The appeals process is quite simple and there is no
prescribed form.
4.6 The DSO should endorse the transitional registers held by a dealer in
anticipation of the result of his or her application for a certificate of registration
under section 43(4) as soon as the application is finalised.
4.7 For purposes of the period 1 May 2012 to 30 July 2012, dealers in second-hand
goods must –

have a certificate issued under section 4 of the 1955 Act OR the SAPS
601(c) (Receipt of application) for registration under the 2009 Act;

have records (registers) in which transactions are recorded;

keep goods for a period of seven days. During this period the goods may
not be disposed of or the form altered. After this period, a dealer may, of
course, alter the form thereof (for example, where copper cable is
granulated or burnt).
4.8 All relevant provisions of the 2009 Act that were in force on 10 December 2011,
must still be applied. The most important are as follows:
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
Section 22(1): Section 22(1) deals with false information and stolen goods
and provides as follows:
22. (1) If a dealer suspects, or on reasonable grounds should
suspect, that—
(a) any name, address or document furnished to the dealer is false;
(b) goods or goods for pawn, as the case may be, offered to such a
dealer are stolen goods; or
(c) the appearance or aspects of an item offered to such dealer has
been tampered with or there was an attempt to alter the appearance
or aspects thereof in order to conceal the identity of the item,
such dealer must immediately report the matter to a police official on
duty at the police station in whose area the dealer carries on
business.
o
The section obliges dealers to report suspicious transactions. This
has the effect that unscrupulous dealers may be charged with an
offence that carries a penalty of maximum 10 years imprisonment. It
also carries a strong message that the market for stolen goods is
being closed down.
o
Section 22(1)(c) covers any item that was tampered with and could
also include cable that was stripped or burnt when it can be proven
that it was done to conceal the identity of such item.

The definition of “controlled metal”:
“Controlled metal” means any metal contemplated in Schedule 2”. In
Schedule 2 the following metals are listed: copper, aluminium, zinc,
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chrome, lead, white metal, nickel, tungsten, tin, ferrovanadium,
ferrosilicon, ferrochrome, brass, bronze, cobalt and precious metals
as defined in the Precious Metals Act, 2005 (Act No. 27 of 2005), or
any article consisting wholly or principally of any of those metals.

Section 25(4)(b) and section 25(4)(c):
Section 25(4)(b) and (c)
criminalizes dealing in and possession of controlled (non-ferrous) metal
(i.e. copper) of which the cover has been burnt. The section provides as
follows:
25.
(4) No person may—
(a) …
(b) acquire or dispose of any cable consisting of controlled metal of
which the cover has been burnt, unless the seller thereof is able to
provide a reasonable explanation for the burnt cover, and only after
the matter has been reported to a police official in the manner
contemplated in section 22(1)(a); or
(c) be in possession of any cable consisting of controlled metal of
which the cover has been burnt, unless such person is able to
provide a reasonable explanation for the burnt cover.
o
This prohibition will not only assist the SAPS in the detection and
prosecution of cable thieves, but act as a deterrent to persons who
illegally deal in burnt cable, as a contravention may attract a possible
maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.
o
The prohibition relates to cable only.
Cable may be defined as
conducting wire with insulation consisting of a cover of plastic or
rubber. For example, armature windings found in motors such as
washing machine or fridge motors do not have such insulation and
possession of or trade in burnt motors do not fall under this section.
o
It is important to remember that there may be various reasons why
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the cover of copper cable may have been burnt – it is impossible to
state all of those reasons in a circular, but members must exercise
the necessary discretion. The main issue relating to burnt cable is
the burning of industrial cable to conceal the fact that it is the
property of an infrastructure stakeholder such as the parastatals,
local governments or mines.
o
The section does not prohibit trade in burnt copper cable or the
burning of copper cable as such – it only requires that a valid
reason must exist why the cover was burnt. Dealers and recyclers
may burn copper cable subject to the seven day holding period in
both Acts as well as other pollution, safety and waste related
legislation such as the National Environmental Management: Air
Quality Act, 2004 (Act No. 39 of 2004), the Occupational Health and
Safety Act, 1993 (Act No. 85 of 1993), the National Health Act, 2003
(Act No. 61 of 2003) and municipal health and safety by-laws.
o
As the National Environmental Management: Air Quality Act, 2004
will be applied differently in each region, it is recommended that
dealers
contact
the
Department
of
Environmental
Affairs:
Directorate: Air Quality Management for assistance. The responsible
person is Mr Mazwi Lushaba with telephone: +27 12 310-3263, fax:
+27 12 322 1320 and e-mail: mlushaba@environment.gov.za to
determine whether permits need to be issued.
4.8 The following issues are of importance:

Section 22(1) and section 25(4) require that the person buying the burnt
cable must make a report to the SAPS.

Regulation 10 of the Regulations for Dealers and Recyclers, 2012
provides for the procedures to be followed in case of a report under
section 22(1) or section 25(4).
o The report must be noted in the Occurrence Book; and
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o The follow number must be provided to the person making the report.

Where a dealer makes a report in terms of section 22(1), criminality is
involved and the Station Commander should ensure that reports are
followed up in order to arrest such suspects.

In cases where transactions relating to burnt cable are reported, the
Station Commander should ensure that cases of suspicious transactions
are followed up.
4.9 Under no circumstances will any member be allowed to “clear” any transaction
or issue a “clearance” to a dealer regarding suspicious goods. It has come to
our attention that dealers require SAPS members to tell them whether certain
goods may be bought or sold and that SAPS members then go to the dealer’s
premises and “clear” the goods so that the transaction may proceed.
This
practice is unacceptable as members unwittingly assist criminals in disposing of
stolen goods, especially as most members do not have the necessary technical
knowledge and expertise to make a call on the declarations.
Under section
22(1) of the Act, all dealers must ensure that they take precautions themselves
in order not to engage in criminal activity.
A dealer should, for example,
interview the seller to establish whether the goods are stolen or not.