Price Control Act, 1964 (Act 25 of 1964)

Price Control Act, 1964
Act 25 of 1964
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Published in South African Government Gazette no. 750 on 20 March 1964
- Assented to on 9 March 1964
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Commenced on 2 October 1964
- [This is the version of this document from 7 April 1976 and includes any amendments published up to 13 May 2022.]
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[Amended by Price Control Amendment Act, 1967 (Act 80 of 1967) on 14 June 1967]
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[Amended by Price Control Amendment Act, 1976 (Act 39 of 1976) on 7 April 1976]
In this Act and in any notice issued thereunder, unless the context otherwise indicates -[introductory phrase of section 1 substituted by Act 80 of 1967]“advertise” means to distribute to members of the public or bring to their notice in any other manner any written, illustrated, visual or other descriptive material or oral statement, communication, representation or reference in order to (a)promote the sale of goods or encourage the use thereof or draw attention to the nature, properties, advantages or uses of goods or to the manner in, conditions on or prices at which goods may be purchased or otherwise acquired; or(b)promote or encourage the use of any service or draw attention to the nature, properties, advantages or uses of any service or the manner in, conditions on or prices at which any service is rendered;[definition of “advertise” inserted by Act 39 of 1976]“controller” means the Price Controller appointed under section two;“Gazette” in relation to any notice under this Act the application whereof is limited to the territory of South-West Africa or any portion thereof, means the Official Gazette of the said territory;“goods” includes used goods;“Minister” means the Minister of Economic Affairs;“sell” includes agree to sell, or mark with a selling price, or offer or attempt to sell, or keep, expose, display or advertise for sale, or deliver in pursuance of a sale, or deliver or dispose of for any consideration, or sell by auction or by way of an agreement as defined in the Hire Purchase Act, 1942 (Act No. 36 of 1942), the date of any such agreement being deemed to be the date of sale, and “sale” shall have a corresponding meaning;[The definition of “sell” is substituted by Act 39 of 1976. The Hire Purchase Act of 1942 has been replaced by the Credit Agreements Act 75 of 1980.]“service” means any service rendered in the course of any commercial transaction and includes the supply of refreshments or meals for consumption on the premises at which such refreshments or meals are supplied. The Minister may, subject to the laws governing the public service, appoint a Price Controller who shall, subject to the control of the Minister, perform such functions and exercise such powers as may be assigned to or conferred upon him by this Act. The controller may designate any officers in the public service -(a)as deputy price controllers, who shall, subject to his control, perform such functions and exercise such powers as he may delegate to them;(b)as price control supervisors or inspectors, who shall, subject to the control of the controller, perform such functions and exercise such powers as may be assigned to or conferred upon them by this Act. The controller may from time to time by notice in the Gazette or, in the case of any particular person, by notice in writing -(a)whenever any maximum price for any goods or any maximum charge for any service has been fixed under this Act, direct that any person dealing in such goods or rendering such service shall display in such manner as the controller may prescribe, such maximum price or charge;(b)require any dealer or any dealer of a specified class to mark in such manner as the controller may prescribe any goods or any specified goods with his selling price for such goods;(c)require any manufacturer or any particular manufacturer of any specified goods or goods of a specified class or any dealer or any particular dealer in such goods to mark such goods in such manner as the controller may prescribe -(i)with the maximum price at which such goods may be sold to any person or to any person of a specified class by any dealer or any particular dealer or any dealer of a specified class;(ii)with identification marks enabling such goods or any materials from which such goods were made or the period during which such goods were manufactured to be identified;(d)prohibit any person or any person of a specified class who sells any goods in respect of which any notice under paragraph (c) applies or applied -(i)from altering, defacing, mutilating, destroying or removing any mark placed or purporting to have been placed on such goods in terms of such notice;(ii)from permitting any such mark to be altered, defaced, mutilated, destroyed or removed. The controller may by notice in the Gazette or, with the authority of the Minister, in the case of any particular person, by notice in writing -[introductory phrase of subsection (1) substituted by Act 80 of 1967](a)require any person selling any goods or rendering any service to issue, at such time or within such period as may be prescribed by the controller, to the purchaser of such goods or to the person to whom such service is rendered an invoice containing such particulars as may be so prescribed;(b)require any person issuing such an invoice to retain a copy thereof for such period as the controller may prescribe;(c)require any person to whom such an invoice has been issued to retain it for such period as the controller may prescribe. The controller may from time to time by notice in the Gazette or, with the authority of the Minister, in the case of a particular person, by notice in writing -[introductory phrase of section 11 substituted by Act 80 of 1967](a)require any person purchasing any goods for resale or for use in the processing, manufacture or production of any class of goods for sale, to keep in one of the official languages of the Republic or, in the case of the territory of South-West Africa, in one of such languages or the German language -(i)such records as may be prescribed in the said notice, relating to the purchase price of such goods or to the cost of processing, manufacture or production of such class of goods or to the selling price of such goods or class of goods; or(ii)where no such records have been so prescribed, such records as will permit of the ready and accurate ascertainment of the purchase price of such goods or the cost of processing, manufacture or production of such class of goods determined in such manner as may in respect of such class of goods be prescribed in the said notice or the selling price of such goods or class of goods;(b)require any person rendering any service at a remuneration so to keep such records as may be prescribed in the said notice, relating to the costs incurred in rendering such service or, where no such records have been so prescribed, such records as will permit of the ready and accurate ascertainment of such costs, determined in such manner as may in respect of such service be prescribed in the said notice;(c)require any person keeping any records in terms of this section to preserve such records for such period as may be specified in the said notice. The controller may from time to time by notice in the Gazette or, with the authority of the Minister, in the case of a particular person, by notice in writing –(a)subject to such conditions as he may impose, grant any person or category of persons exemption from any provision of this Act, or any notice or order issued thereunder, to such extent as he may specify; and(b)without assigning any reason and without giving any hearing to the person or persons concerned withdraw or modify to such extent and subject to such conditions as the controller may think fit, any such exemption.[section 15 substituted by Act 80 of 1967 and by Act 39 of 1976] Whenever the manager, servant or agent of any person does or omits to do anything which it would be an offence under this Act for such person to do or omit to do, such person shall be deemed himself to have done or omitted to do such thing and be liable on conviction to the penalties therefor unless he proves to the satisfaction of the court -(a)that in doing or omitting to do such thing such manager, servant or agent was acting without his connivance or permission;(b)that all reasonable steps were taken by him to prevent any act or omission of the kind in question; and(c)that it was not under any condition or in any circumstances within the scope of the authority or the course of the employment of the manager, servant or agent to do or omit to do acts, whether lawful or unlawful, of the character of that of the act or omission charged:Provided that the fact that such person issued instructions forbidding any act or omission of the kind in question, shall not of itself be accepted as sufficient proof that he took all reasonable steps to prevent the act or omission. Any person who -(a)sells any goods to any other person at a price in excess of the maximum price at which he may under this Act sell such goods to such other person;(b)purchases or offers to purchase any goods from any other person at a price in excess of the maximum price at which he may under this Act purchase such goods from such other person;(c)makes a charge for any service in excess of the maximum charge which he may under this Act make for such service;(d)makes a charge for any service if he is prohibited under this Act from making any charge for such service;(e)contravenes or fails to comply with any provision of a notice issued under section five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten or eleven;(f)in pursuance of a notice issued under section eight issues an invoice which is incorrect in any material respect;(g)fails to comply within a reasonable time with an order issued under section twelve, or, in pursuance of such order, furnishes any information or document which is incorrect;(h)fails to comply with an order issued under section thirteen, within such time as the person issuing the order may specify, or, in pursuance of such order, furnishes any information which is incorrect;(i)hinders, obstructs or delays any person in the performance of his functions or in the exercise of his powers under this Act;(j)falsely represents himself to be a price control supervisor or inspector,shall be guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding two thousand rand or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or to both such fine and such imprisonment.[section 18 amended by Act 39 of 1976] Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other law contained a magistrate’s court shall have jurisdiction to impose any penalty prescribed by this Act. The controller may limit the application of any notice issued by him under this Act to any area or areas or person or persons or classes or categories of persons specified in the notice. This Act and any amendment thereof shall apply also in the territory of South-West Africa, including the Eastern Caprivi Zipfel referred to in section 3 of the South-West Africa Affairs Amendment Act, 1951 (Act No. 55 of 1951), and in relation to all persons in the portion of the said territory known as the “Rehoboth Gebiet” and defined in the First Schedule to Proclamation No. 28 of 1923 of the Administrator of that territory.[section 21 substituted by Act 80 of 1967] This Act shall be called the Price Control Act, 1964, and shall come into operation upon a date to be fixed by the State President by proclamation in the Gazette.1. Definitions
2. Appointment of Price Controller
3. Designation of deputy price controllers, price control supervisors and price control inspectors
4. Controller may fix maximum prices or charges
5. Deposits or charges in respect of containers of goods sold
6. Sale of goods by auction
7. Display or marking of prices and marking of goods
8. Issue and retention of invoices
9. Certain conditional sales or the rendering of services on certain conditions may be prohibited
10. Sale or disposal of certain goods may be prohibited temporarily
11. Keeping and preservation of records by certain purchasers of goods and person rendering services
12. Information to be furnished to controller by certain persons
13. Powers of price control supervisors and inspectors
14. Controller may order person selling goods or charging for services in contravention of this Act to make certain payments
15. Controller may grant exemptions
16. Evidence
17. Principal responsible for certain acts of manager, servant or agent
18. Offences
19. Jurisdiction of magistrate’s court
20. Application of notices under this Act
21. Application of Act to South-West Africa
22. Amendment of Schedule to Act 58 of 1956, as amended by section 2 of Act 39 of 1959, section 2 of Act 66 of 1962 and section 7 of Act 45 of 1963
23. Short title and date of commencement