Legal Digest – September 2015

Cybercrimes Act into force 1 September 2015

The police force has vowed to work closely with the Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology to implement the Cybercrimes Act 2015 and Electronic Transactions Act 2015, which are expected to come into force on 1 September 2015.

The Act addresses issues of cyber terrorism including potential damages and illegal interference of systems and computer related frauds. The main objectives of the Act include to protect sensitive infrastructures, reduce vulnerability and minimise the damage that cyber-attacks may cause. It has also touched on a number of cybercrimes which include illegal access, interception, data interference, espionage and computer-related forgery and fraud. The Act will have its Regulations which are expected at the end of the year.

It is important to note that if a corporate body is convicted of an offence under this Act, every person who, at the time of commission of the offence was – a director, officer or is otherwise concerned with the management of the corporate body; or  knowingly authorised or permitted the act or omission constituting the offence is deemed to have committed the same offence unless every such person proves that the commission of the offence took place without his consent or that he exercised due diligence to prevent the commission of offence. In short directors and officers of company can be individually charged and imprisoned.

TRA going house to house to curb tax evasion

With increasing number of apartment blocks and houses, especially with landlords and tenants not complying with remitting relevant taxes on leases and property including withholding tax on rent, TRA has embarked on an aggressive campaign to verify identity of landlords and tenants.

TRA has started to distribute a “physical survey questionnaire form” house to house to identify landlords and tenants and requesting a copy of the lease to establish whether withholding tax and stamp duty have been paid.

Petroleum Act 2015 signed into law

In August President Kikwete signed into law The Petroleum Act 2015, The Tanzania Extractive Industries (Transparency and Accountability) Act, 2015 as well as the Oil and Gas Revenues Management Act, 2015. Also in the list of laws signed were the Teachers’ Service Commission Act, 2015 and the Commodity Exchange Act, 2015.

The Petroleum Act, 2015 repeals The Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Act, 1980 and The Petroleum Act, 2008. The new law consolidates legislation of the petroleum sub-sector through governing of the entire value chain namely upstream, midstream and downstream operations.

The Tanzania Extractive Industries (Transparency and Accountability) Act 2015 will cover both mining and the oil and gas sector. The purpose of the Act is to ensure transparency and accountability in the extractive industries and to better regulate and reconcile payments between such companies to statutory bodies in Tanzania.

The Act establishes a Committee that shall be an independent Government entity which shall be an oversight body for promoting and enhancing transparency and accountability in the extractive industry.

The Chairperson of the committee shall be appointed by the President. Mining and oil and gas companies will be required under this Act to file further returns and provide more information to the committee on their financial affairs including spending on corporate social responsibility.

The Oil and Gas Revenues Management Act, 2015 provides for the establishment and management of the Oil and Gas Fund, to provide for the framework for fiscal rules and management of oil and gas revenues and to provide for other related matters. Under this legislation, the TRA will continue with its role taxing the oil and gas companies, but all non tax oil and gas revenues will be collected and accounted for by the National Oil Company.

The Petroleum Upstream Regulatory Authority, as is formed vide the Petroleum Act will be responsible for auditing cost recovery to ensure that the government is getting its share bit as per legislation and production sharing agreements.

In regard to the Commodity Exchange Act, 2015, Minister for Finance explained that legislation will ensure there is proper infrastructure in place to facilitate fairness, transparency and sound management of commodity exchanges. “Through the arrangement, demand and supply will determine prices of farm produce and thus assuring farmers of improved incomes.

Govt proposes law to curb human trafficking

The Government said that a National Ant-trafficking Action law is in the making that aims at combating human trafficking that is a great threat to boys and girls seeking ‘better life’ abroad.

Briefing reporters yesterday in Dar es Salaam the Vice-President Dr Mohammed Ghalib Bilal said hundreds of thousands of people across the country fall victims to human trafficking. He said Tanzania is used as a gateway and regional centre of an intricate trafficking network that recruits women and children from Mozambique, Angola, Malawi to Eastern countries.

Bilal said the new legislation will be applied to prosecute offences related to trafficking and is sufficient to combat trafficking and protect victims effectively. He called upon all stakeholders across the country and the public in general to work closely with the government to fight against human trafficking.

Tanzania has recently suspended about a quarter of its recruitment agencies in a bid to crack down on human trafficking after complainant that girls sent as domestic servants to the Middle East were used as sex slaves and forced to work without pay.

The international Labour organisation estimates that there are 21 million people globally in forced labour or trafficked, including 5.5 million children.

According to the FBI of the US, the victims are  trapped in lives of misery—often beaten, starved, and forced to work as prostitutes or to take gruelling jobs as migrant, domestic, restaurant, or factory workers with little or no pay. Everyone should be working hard to stop human trafficking—not only because of the personal and psychological toll it takes on society, but also because it facilitates the illegal movement of immigrants across borders and provides a ready source of income for organized crime groups and even terrorists.

Submission of Tax Clearance Certificate for issuance of Business License

The Government through the Finance Act, 2015 has amended section 13 of the Business Licensing Act 1972 by adding a sub-section that requires a person or entity applying for a new or renewal of a Business License from 1 July 2015 to submit a Tax Clearance Certificate from TRA for the respective year. Those applications that will not be accompanied with a Tax Clearance Certificate will not be considered.

According to the TRA, to get a Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) the basic requirements must be fulfilled: all Tax Returns must have been filed, all assessed taxes must have been fully paid and taxpayers eligible for EFD must have acquired and should be using the device.

TRA in a statement said that he Tax Clea.rance Certificates will be issued free of charge

Around the World

Soviet dissident sues Crown Prosecution Service, alleging libel
The veteran Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky is suing the Crown Prosecution Service for libel over a statement it issued in April announcing that he was being charged with child pornography offences.
Bukovsky has strenuously denied the allegations and on Monday took the unusual step of issuing a writ against the CPS in the high court in London. He is seeking £100,000 in damages.

‘One person a fortnight’ travels to Dignitas from Britain to end their lives
The number of Britons who have ended their lives in the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland is set to reach 300 in the next few weeks, a figure that will be used by right-to-die campaigners to bolster their call for the UK to overhaul what they say are outmoded laws prohibiting assisted dying.
Figures from Dignitas, shared with the Observer by the campaign group Dignity in Dying, reveal that 292 Britons have gone to Dignitas since 2002. The largest number of people who have died came from the Greater London area – 57 – compared with just seven from the north-east.

Chelsea could be sued for constructive dismissal over Eva Carneiro row
Eva Carneiro, the Chelsea doctor demoted after José Mourinho reacted furiously to her treating the midfielder Eden Hazard in the closing minutes of Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Swansea, could have a case to sue the club for constructive dismissal.

Nick Wilcox, a lawyer at the specialist employment firm Brahams Dutt Badrick French, said Carneiro appeared clearly to have been fulfilling her duties as a doctor to attend Hazard, who was down on the pitch apparently injured, particularly after the referee, Michael Oliver, beckoned to the bench for attention.

Pakistan empowers military courts to pass death sentences on civilians
Pakistan’s supreme court has ruled that secret military courts are legal and can pass death sentences on civilians, a judgment that critics say further strengthens the military’s grip on power at the expense of civilian authorities.

Military courts were empowered to try suspected militants after Taliban gunmen massacred 134 children at an army-run school in December. The government argued that civilians were too scared to convict militants.

India lifts ban on internet pornography after criticism
India is to partially lift a ban on online pornography after criticism over authorities’ decision to block more than 800 pornographic websites.
In the first large-scale crackdown on the internet in India, the world’s largest democracy, websites were blocked over the weekend as telecommunications companies began to implement government instructions.

Three Al Jazeera journalists receive multi-year prison sentence in Egypt
On appeal from a guilty verdict in 2014, three Al Jazeera journalists received a three-year prison sentence for their roles in releasing video footage that allegedly contained false news in support of the Muslim
Brotherhood.

Google rejects EU antitrust claim, refuses to change search results
Google filed a response to the European Commission (EC) rejecting EU antitrust charges that Google structures its search results to favor its own services over those of rivals. The EU’s investigation [press release] of Google over various antitrust violations has been ongoing since 2010.

Germany court rejects Apple patent appeal
Germany’s highest appeal court on Tuesday affirmed a 2013 decision by a lower court that invalidated a series of Apple smartphone patents. The ruling by the Federal Court of Justice invalidates the patents regarding the “swipe to unlock” feature of the Apple iPhone.