The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) has withdrawn its annual return system for a month due to technical problems.
System upgrades and maintenance that have been implemented by the commission over some time appear to be the cause of the current problem with the annual return system, says spokesperson Sizwile Makhubu.
"Old hardware must be replaced and it is important to note that this needs to be handled in a cautious, methodical and rigorous manner," he said in a statement.
The CIPC has decided to withdraw the entire annual return system in order to do a thorough review. Customers will be unable to file annual returns during this time. The system is expected to be up and running again by the end of July.
In a statement released by the CIPC, it says due to its review of the system, it will only effect final deregistration of non-compliant entities at the end of September as opposed to the end of June.
The CIPC has also implemented a process to deal with companies that are in the re-instatement process. By the time of publication, the commission had not provided the details of this process and the number of companies affected.
In April, the CIPC also brought down its annual return system to implement scheduled maintenance that had been communicated to the public two weeks in advance, says Astrid Ludin, commissioner at CIPC. When the system was brought back up, the commission experienced problems that took three days to resolve.
Ludin says the CIPC has a programme in place to upgrade its IT hardware and infrastructure during the rest of the year. She says while system downtimes at certain points will be necessary for the completion of the task, the commission will try to minimise the negative effects on the filing public.
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