The business community is requesting Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) to extend its Annual Duty Penalty Waiver Programme, which ended today.

Long queues could be observed at Windhoek's Grove and Maerua Malls as business owners hurry to have their penalties waived.

The process began in January, and business owners are complaining about the slow service at both locations.

Registered business owners are required to pay an annual fee of N$120, and failure to pay results in penalties.

With money laundering, business fraud, and illicit dealings detected in the business environment, the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) and the Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to curb and educate those in the business world about these emerging crimes.

The collaboration between the two is to build a foundation that safeguards the rights of intellectual property rights holders, the owners of businesses, and those who are users and benefactors in both areas by exchanging information.

The Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) is seeking input from stakeholders on the country's decades-old Corporate Laws.

BIPA, in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industrialisation, initiated the legislative reform process of the Companies Act of 2004 and the Close Corporation Act of 1988.

The review process of the Corporate Laws aims to merge the two Acts that would regulate all forms of business entities, including aspects of business rescue and corporate governance.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) says the Namibian Intellectual Property Rights Laws are outdated and not fit for purpose.

Vivienne Katjiuongua said this during the two-day Namibian Corporate Law Reform Project for the Regional Consultation Programme at Walvis Bay.

Katjiuongua says that as an institution, BIPA is going to look at how to improve the country's ranking in doing business, which includes automating its systems.

The Namibia Revenue Agency (NamRA) confiscated goods worth more than N$5 billion between 2004 and 2020.

This was revealed at the NamRA Talks event, where 10 participants presented topics on, among others, the impact of counterfeit goods on the economy and effective ways of taxation in the digital economy.

One of the participants, Onesmus Joseph, spoke about the impact of counterfeit goods on the national economy.

Also speaking at the event was Vivienne Katjiuongua, BIPA CEO

Her presentation focused mainly on intellectual property.

The week-long international roundtable on the review and modernization of Namibia's outdated corporate laws is underway in Windhoek.

The review is aimed at encouraging investment and innovation through the adoption of an effective and predictable regulatory business environment.

The Business and Intellectual Property Authority (BIPA) and the Ministry of Industrialization and Trade, together with local and international stakeholders, collaborated to review and reform the laws related to companies and close corporations.

The Business and Intellectual Property Authority has expressed concern over a low turnout of business registrations. 

The authority says it has observed a 7.3 percent decline in the registrations of businesses.

BIPA recorded more than 12 000 registrations on its business register for the period January to December last year, compared to 2021 when the Authority recorded a total of 13 594 registrations.

Despite the introduction of the credit guarantee scheme for small and medium enterprises, SMEs, the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI) feels more can be done to relax collateral and security requirements against loans.