A committee of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly is examining legislation for mandatory civil offsets. The GNA is expected to approve the bill in about a month and it will become law two months later, according to an informed government source.
Despite much scepticism, the government said its plan to barter Thai farm products for Chinese high-speed trains is likely to be finalised before the end of the year. The government still plans to hold a bidding contest for the railway projects, and said that barter is a mechanism open to all countries.
The Office of Inspector General will conduct audits that include examinations of compliance with both the Berry Amendment and the Buy American Act. The BAA requires that ‘substantially all’ of the costs of foreign components not exceed 50 percent of the cost of all components. It is criticised by many foreign suppliers for its equivalence to an offset policy.
The amendments significantly change the manner in which a firm's B-BBEE status (or level) will be calculated. For example a firm with an \old\" B-BBEE level 4 rating (65 points) will automatically become a \"new\" B-BBEE level 7.
"The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovenia were all referred to the Court in 2012 with a proposal for financial sanctions because of the late transposition of the directive on defence procurement. A summary of referrals last year puts them into context by disclosing the extent to which there were other alleged infringements.