Sabinet is proud to announce that its National Legislation service – NetLaw available on Sabinet Discover will now be free to all public universities in South Africa.
“Sabinet is focused on enabling public tertiary education institutions to access the resources necessary to empower students in various industries and professions, in addition to providing a backbone of resources for law firms and businesses.” Furthermore, the universities without a law faculty will benefit from keeping their legal departments up to date with the latest legislation. “Our mission continues to be that of empowering people through access to information, and supporting education and upliftment with the most accurate and dependable resources possible,” say Rosalind Hattingh, Managing Director.
Sabinet took the decision earlier this year to extend NetLaw to all public universities and not just those with law faculties. It provides users with instant online access to South African legislation, enabling them to stay up to date with new, amended and repealed laws.
“Sabinet is focused on facilitating knowledge that drives change. There is increased pressure to provide accurate, relevant, and reliable information in a timely and efficient manner. NetLaw’s numerous advantages, combined with a wealth of resources and historical records, leaves little margin for error and offers efficiency, simplicity and accuracy to online legal research…”
There are currently 28 bills in the National Assembly and four bills in the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). Most bills are introduced in the National Assembly, but certain bills that affect provinces may be introduced in the NCOP. If a bill passes through both the National Assembly and the NCOP, it is sent to the President for assent. Once the President has signed a bill passed by the Houses, it becomes an Act of Parliament – a law of the land.
“This is where Sabinet’s National Legislation service – NetLaw, comes into play. It provides instant online access to South African legislation. Since 27 April 1994, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has promoted just under 200 Bills, which have been enacted by Parliament. Parliament has the power to pass new laws, amend existing laws and repeal old laws. It can be extremely time consuming to access and understand all this legislation, especially if you are a University or an organisation providing learning to your students or employees,” explains Hattingh.
Updated daily with new legislation or amendments, as they are released, Sabinet’s NetLaw offers one consolidated version of each piece of legislation, so you can be sure that you are looking at the latest version with all the relevant amendments. You can also email, print and download full-text versions of the Act, Amended Acts, rules and regulations quickly and easily. NetLaw ensures that you can always research with the guarantee that you have the most credible and accurate legislation information at your fingertips.
“We are proud that our access to information continues to change the lives of South Africans across the nation and our goal is to reach as many people as possible,” she concludes.
If you are a University and interested in taking up this offer and for more information on Sabinet’s NetLaw service contact [email protected], toll free number: 0800 11 85 95. For more information on the service, visit discover.sabinet.co.za