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SettleADebt C_ZA PASS-08 — South Africa

General consumer-service contract, disclosure, cancellation and refund gateway

Focused component: A hypothetical independent, debtor-paid, non-legal service limited to budgeting information and consensual creditor negotiation.

Research access date: 26 October 2026 PDT; 27 October 2026 UTC and SAST. Exact individual source-access times were not logged and are unknown.

Provenance: P01–P03 and the reviewed portions of P05 remain subject to their stated holds. P04 remains incomplete. P06 and P07 are saved but await first coordinator review; none of their fee, payment, registration-condition or currentness conclusions is adopted here.

Disposition: A separate paid budgeting or voluntary-negotiation service can fall within the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 (CPA) as a consumer-service transaction when the statutory consumer, supplier, ordinary-course, consideration and South African nexus predicates are satisfied. That does not authorise statutory NCA debt counselling, legal practice, financial intermediation, creditor-side collection or custody of repayment money. The particular conduct must be classified independently before the contract gateway is used. South African Government+2

The principal cancellation routes are not interchangeable:

• CPA §14: early termination of an applicable fixed-term agreement on 20 business days’ recorded notice, subject to accrued amounts and a reasonable cancellation charge.
• CPA §16: five-business-day cooling off for a transaction resulting from direct marketing, except where ECTA §44 applies.
• CPA §17: cancellation of an actual advance booking, reservation or order; it is not a generic cancellation rule for every consulting retainer.
• ECTA §43: online-disclosure noncompliance may support cancellation within 14 days after receiving the services.
• ECTA §44: a natural-person consumer’s qualifying electronic service transaction may be cancelled within seven days after conclusion, unless an exclusion applies; an advance payment must then be refunded within 30 days.
• ECTA §46: delayed or unavailable electronic performance has its own cancellation/refund route. South African Government+5

No source read establishes a universal fee percentage, settlement charge, non-refundable retainer, earned-fee rule or automatic full refund for this hypothetical private service. The agreed fee structure remains subject to the contract’s actual trigger, CPA disclosure and fairness rules, performance, any applicable cancellation route and independently triggered professional law. NCR debt-counselling fee guidance is not private-service price authority. South African Government+3

G1. Applicability, actor and agreement

G1.1 The hypothetical service may be a CPA “service”

The CPA’s definition of a service includes work or an undertaking performed by one person for another and the provision of information, advice or consultation, subject to specific exclusions such as advice that is regulated under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act. Its definitions of business, consideration, consumer, supplier and transaction collectively require attention to whether the supplier continually markets services, acts in the ordinary course of business and receives something of value directly or indirectly. A promise, indirect benefit or third-party payment may constitute consideration; a cash payment is not the only possible form. C_ZA-P08-C001–C003. South African Government+3

A genuinely free preliminary conversation may not yet be a completed paid transaction, but the promotion and representations made during that call can still fall within CPA marketing provisions. A “free” call also does not settle whether the provider later receives referral money, commissions or another indirect benefit. C009. South African Government+2

G1.2 Territorial and supplier scope

The CPA applies to covered transactions occurring within South Africa, covered promotion within South Africa, and the goods or services supplied under such transactions. If those predicates are met, §5(8) says application is not defeated merely because the supplier is outside South Africa, operates for profit or not for profit, or has a particular organisational form or public status. This does not mean that every foreign website is automatically subject to South African law; the transaction, promotion or performance nexus still must be established. C004. South African Government+1

A charity, nonprofit or “consumer advocacy” label therefore is not a blanket CPA exemption. Equally, CPA compliance does not itself grant permission to engage in a separately regulated profession or financial activity. C004, C008. South African Government

G1.3 Natural consumers, juristic consumers and business purpose

The CPA generally excludes a transaction where the consumer is a juristic person whose asset value or annual turnover at the time equals or exceeds the Ministerial threshold. Government Notice 294 of 2011 sets that threshold at R2 million and supplies its calculation method. P08 did not establish a later successor notice, so the 2011 figure is the last official threshold body located—not a certification that no later instrument exists. C005. South African Government+1

A juristic person below that threshold may remain within the CPA generally, but two narrower protections differ:

• CPA §14 does not apply to transactions between juristic persons, irrespective of turnover or asset value.
• ECTA Chapter VII defines its consumer as a natural person entering or intending to enter an electronic transaction as the end user. South African Government+2

A natural person buying a service for business purposes is not automatically excluded from the whole CPA. However, the regulation 44 “grey-list” presumption is narrower: it applies to a for-profit supplier dealing with an individual who contracts mainly outside that individual’s business or profession. C011, C022. South African Government

G1.4 NCA credit-agreement exclusion and the separate service contract

CPA §5(2)(d) excludes a transaction that itself constitutes a credit agreement under the National Credit Act, while expressly preserving CPA application to goods or services that are the subject of the credit agreement. The debtor’s loan or credit-card agreement and the independent adviser’s separate service contract must therefore be classified separately. C006–C007. South African Government+1

A paid agreement for budgeting information or consensual negotiation is not transformed into an NCA credit agreement merely because it concerns the consumer’s debts. Conversely, calling a statutory §86 debt-review service “voluntary negotiation” does not remove it from the NCA. The actual assessment, representations, forms, creditor communications, authority and funds flow control. This pass does not decide that professional-perimeter question. C007–C008.

G1.5 CPA contract compliance is not occupational permission

The CPA regulates the consumer transaction; it does not grant:

• NCR debt-counsellor status;
• Legal Practice Act authority to provide reserved legal work;
• FAIS authority for regulated financial-product advice or intermediation;
• Debt Collectors Act authority;
• PDA or payment-system authority to receive and distribute debt payments;
• authority to hold money in an attorney or other statutory trust account.

A supplier could comply with plain-language and cancellation rules while still lacking a separate permission required for the underlying work. Conversely, a properly licensed professional may still have CPA disclosure and fairness duties for a covered service contract. C008, C053.

G1.6 Current direct-marketing overlay

The Minister gazetted a 2026 amendment concerning the CPA opt-out registry. The official gov.za notice page identifies Government Notice 7380, Gazette 54521, Regulation Gazette 11983, dated 15 April 2026, but the attachment exposed by that page points to an unrelated Gazette file. The operative amending PDF therefore was not read from that portal and is not used to establish its exact clauses. C048. South African Government+1

Official NCC statements say the amendment concerns regulation 4, direct-marketer registration, list cleansing and pre-emptive blocks. The registry launched on 7 October 2026 under a phased implementation plan. These are current marketing-contact rules, not amendments to the CPA §14, §16 or ECTA §44 cancellation periods. The October 2026 guidelines were still published for comment and expressly describe themselves as non-binding on the Commission, Tribunal and courts. C048. The National Consumer Commission+2

G2. Formation, disclosure, pricing and unfair terms

G2.1 Plain language and an accessible written contract

A CPA-required notice or document must use the prescribed form, if any, or plain language. The test is whether an ordinary member of the intended consumer class, with average literacy and minimal relevant consumer experience, can understand its content, significance and effect without undue effort. Organisation, vocabulary, sentence structure, consistency, headings and examples matter. C012. South African Government

Where the consumer agreement is in writing, §50 requires a free copy or free electronic access to the terms. The agreement must satisfy the plain-language requirement and contain an itemised breakdown of the consumer’s financial obligations. A signature does not cure noncompliance or make an unlawful term valid. C019. South African Government+1

For a non-electronic transaction, §26 generally requires a written transaction record. That section expressly steps aside where ECTA §43 applies. The record should identify the supplier, transaction date, service description and relevant price/tax totals subject to its exact statutory and regulatory qualifications. C013. South African Government

G2.2 Online disclosures

For an electronic transaction, ECTA §43 requires the online supplier to make material information available, including:

• full name, legal status and physical/contact details;
• applicable registration and professional information;
• material service characteristics;
• the full price, including taxes, fees and other costs;
• payment method;
• all governing terms and how the consumer can store or reproduce them;
• the time for performance;
• record-access arrangements;
• refund policy;
• security and privacy policy;
• minimum duration for recurring services; and
• §44 cooling-off rights where applicable.

The consumer must be able to review the whole transaction, correct mistakes and withdraw before finally placing the order. C014, C036–C037. South African Government+1

A hyperlink labelled “terms” is not necessarily enough if the consumer cannot access, store and reproduce the actual terms or if charges are hidden until after acceptance.

G2.3 Fee forms

The CPA does not establish a universal percentage or monetary cap for the hypothetical private service. An agreement may instead propose, for example:

• an advance fixed fee;
• staged fixed fees;
• a monthly or periodic fee;
• a fee contingent on a defined contractual event;
• reimbursement of separately identified expenses; or
• third-party compensation.

Each structure must state what work is included, the objective trigger for earning or charging the amount, when payment becomes due, what happens if the consumer cancels, and whether a third party pays anything to the provider. C015, C047. South African Government+2

No fee is validated merely because the consumer clicked “I agree.” Sections 48–52 can still apply to an advance, periodic or contingent fee that is excessively one-sided, misleading or disproportionate to performance.

G2.4 Intermediary-specific disclosure is conditional

CPA §27 and regulations 9–10 impose additional disclosure and recordkeeping obligations on an actor who meets the statutory definition of an intermediary. The regulation requires, among other things, identity and registration details, exact service, fee or basis of calculation on request, other recoverable costs and circumstances, accounting frequency, third-party commissions, conflicts of interest and written/plain-language financial information. It also specifies a three-year record period. C016. South African Government+1

A voluntary negotiator is not automatically an “intermediary” merely because it communicates with a creditor. The statutory definition, exclusions, actual agency role and remuneration must be tested first.

G2.5 Unfair price, terms and administration

CPA §48 prohibits supplying, marketing, negotiating, entering into or administering a transaction at an unfair, unreasonable or unjust price or on unfair terms. Relevant indicators include excessive one-sidedness, terms so adverse as to be inequitable, reliance on misleading representations and failure to draw §49 terms to the consumer’s attention properly. C017. South African Government+2

Terms that limit supplier liability, shift risk, require indemnity or constitute an acknowledgment by the consumer must be conspicuous, in plain language and presented before the consumer enters the agreement, starts the relevant activity or makes the relevant payment. The consumer must have an adequate opportunity to understand them. C018. South African Government

Section 51 separately prohibits provisions designed to defeat the CPA, mislead the consumer, waive CPA protections impermissibly or exclude supplier liability for gross negligence. A contravening term may be void to the extent specified by the Act. Broader consequences generally require the applicable statutory process or adjudication; provider misconduct does not automatically erase the consumer’s unrelated debts. C020–C021. South African Government+2

G2.6 Regulation 44 “grey list”

Regulation 44 creates a narrower presumption of unfairness for a contract between:

• a supplier acting for profit and mainly for business or professional purposes; and
• an individual consumer contracting mainly outside that consumer’s business or profession.

The list is indicative and non-exhaustive: a listed term can be fair in context, and an unlisted term can still be unfair under §§48–52. C022. South African Government

Potentially relevant listed effects include terms that:

• permit unilateral price changes without an adequate termination right;
• let the supplier determine unilaterally whether performance conforms;
• retain the consumer’s payment when the supplier does not perform without comparable consumer compensation;
• require disproportionate compensation for cancellation or breach;
• compel the consumer to perform despite the supplier’s material nonperformance;
• permit unilateral termination or variation without fair reciprocal rights;
• unduly limit remedies, evidence or access to proceedings.

The list does not establish that every “non-refundable” term is automatically void. Its exact text, context, performance and proportionality still matter. South African Government+1

G2.7 Marketing claims and guarantees

A supplier must not use pressure, harassment, undue influence or unfair tactics in marketing, negotiation, collection or enforcement. It also must not falsely or misleadingly represent the nature, benefits, conditions, price, approval, authority, timing or likely result of the service. C023. South African Government

Claims such as “guaranteed settlement,” “creditors must accept,” “we can stop every lawsuit,” “NCR approved,” or “the fee is legally mandated” therefore require an actual legal and factual basis. A disclaimer buried elsewhere does not necessarily cure the initial representation.

G2.8 Quality of service and partial refunds

CPA §54 gives a consumer rights to timely performance, timely notice of unavoidable delay, performance of a quality consumers are generally entitled to expect and proper handling of consumer property. If the supplier fails that standard, the consumer may require correction of the defect or a reasonable portion of the price refunded, having regard to the extent of the failure. It is not an automatic full-refund rule whenever a creditor rejects an offer. C024, C048. South African Government+1

A voluntary-negotiation provider ordinarily cannot guarantee acceptance by a creditor. The relevant service-quality question is generally whether the provider performed the promised work competently and timely—not whether a third party made the hoped-for commercial concession, unless the contract unlawfully or expressly guaranteed that result.

G2.9 Advance and prepaid services

CPA §64 applies where an agreement requires a one-time or periodic membership charge, or payment for services to be supplied more than 25 business days after payment. The amount remains the consumer’s property until charged in accordance with the section, and the supplier may charge once monthly in advance for the pro-rata cost of the ensuing month. C025. South African Government+2

This is not a blanket rule that every advance consulting fee is earned monthly. A retainer involving immediate work, later work and separately defined stages requires a factual allocation. Section 65 separately requires a supplier possessing consumer money or other consumer property not to treat it as its own and to use appropriate care, subject to the section’s exclusions. C026. South African Government+1

G3. Cancellation and refund routes

G3.1 CPA §14 fixed-term agreements

Section 14 does not apply to a transaction between juristic persons. For an applicable fixed-term consumer agreement, the consumer may cancel before expiry by giving 20 business days’ notice in writing or another recorded form. The consumer remains liable for amounts owed through the cancellation date, and the supplier may impose only a reasonable cancellation penalty. C027–C030. South African Government+1

Regulation 5 generally caps fixed terms at 24 months from signature, unless a longer term is expressly agreed and gives the consumer a demonstrable financial benefit, or another valid sector regulation or code provides differently. C027. South African Government

Reasonableness of a cancellation charge depends on factors including:

• amounts due through cancellation;
• value supplied through cancellation;
• retained or returned goods;
• original duration;
• loss or benefit from entry into the agreement;
• nature of services;
• notice length;
• reasonable replacement potential; and
• industry practice.

The charge cannot negate the cancellation right. No fixed percentage or “all remaining monthly fees” formula is supplied. C030. South African Government

The supplier must also give an expiry notice 40 to 80 business days before fixed-term expiry. Unless the consumer terminates or agrees to another fixed term, the agreement rolls to month-to-month on the notified terms. C029. South African Government

G3.2 CPA §16 direct-marketing cooling off

A transaction resulting from direct marketing may be rescinded without reason or penalty through written or other recorded notice within five business days after the later of:

• conclusion of the agreement; or
• delivery of goods.

For a service-only contract with no delivered goods, the relevant starting event is ordinarily the agreement date. C031. South African Government

Where no goods were delivered, the supplier must return payment within 15 business days after receiving the rescission notice and must not continue collecting under the rescinded transaction, subject to the Act’s limited qualification. C032. South African Government

Section 16 expressly says it does not apply if ECTA §44 applies to the transaction. It is therefore not an extra five-business-day period stacked onto an applicable seven-day ECTA period. C033, C045. South African Government

G3.3 CPA §17 advance bookings

Section 17 addresses an actual advance booking, reservation or order for later supply. The supplier may require a reasonable deposit and may impose a reasonable cancellation charge, considering the service’s nature, notice length, reasonable replacement possibility and industry practice. No cancellation charge may be imposed when the booking cannot be honoured because of the beneficiary’s death or hospitalisation. C034. South African Government

An ongoing advisory retainer is not automatically a “reservation.” Section 17 should not be substituted for §14, §16, ECTA or the contract’s ordinary termination provisions without the actual booking facts.

G3.4 ECTA scope and consumer

ECTA Chapter VII applies only to electronic transactions. Its consumer is a natural person entering or intending to enter the electronic transaction as the end user. A juristic-person customer cannot rely on the Chapter’s consumer cooling-off provisions merely because the contract was signed online. C035. South African Government+2

A consumer-initiated website purchase can qualify even though there was no direct marketing. This is a major difference from CPA §16, which requires that the transaction result from direct marketing.

G3.5 ECTA §43 disclosure failure

An online supplier must make the §43 information available and provide a pre-order opportunity to review, correct and withdraw. If it fails to comply with those duties, the consumer may cancel within 14 days of receiving the services. The consumer must cease using the services, and the supplier must refund payments minus any applicable direct goods-return cost. Section 43(4) does not state a separate refund deadline for this route. C036–C038. South African Government+1

For a continuing information or negotiation service, the date on which services were “received” may be fact-sensitive. It should not be replaced automatically by the payment date or first login date.

G3.6 ECTA §44 cooling off

For a qualifying electronic transaction supplying services, a natural-person consumer may cancel without reason or penalty within seven days after the agreement was concluded. If payment occurred before cancellation, the consumer is entitled to a full refund within 30 days after cancellation. C039–C040. South African Government+1

ECTA uses “days,” not “business days,” in this section. P08 did not complete a general Interpretation Act or electronic-notice computation analysis, so it does not fabricate a precise midnight or receipt rule for a real agreement. C047.

G3.7 Service-start consent and other ECTA exclusions

ECTA §44 does not apply to a service that began with the consumer’s consent before the end of the seven-day period. Both actual commencement and consent are material. A generic clause saying “the consumer waives all rights” is not the same as proving the service began with the required consent, and ECTA §48 renders contractual exclusion of Chapter VII rights void. C041. South African Government+1

Other §44 exclusions include specified financial services, auctions, market-price-dependent services and particular date-specific accommodation, transport, catering and leisure services. A budgeting or negotiation service is not automatically a “financial service”; its actual activities and products require classification. C042. South African Government

A difficult overlap remains: when ECTA §44 is excluded because the service began with consent, CPA §16 says only that it steps aside when §44 applies. P08 has not located an authoritative current primary interpretation establishing whether CPA §16 then revives automatically for an electronically concluded direct-marketing transaction. That branch remains unresolved rather than being turned into a universal hierarchy. C045.

G3.8 Delayed or unavailable electronic performance

Unless the parties agree otherwise, ECTA §46 requires execution of the electronic order within 30 days. If the supplier fails to perform within the required period, the consumer may cancel on seven days’ written notice. If performance is impossible because the service is unavailable, the supplier must notify the consumer immediately and refund payments within 30 days after that notice. C043. South African Government

This is distinct from:

• cooling off without cause;
• cancellation for misleading claims;
• termination under a fixed-term contract; and
• a CPA §54 remedy for defective service.

G3.9 Foreign law and non-exclusion

ECTA §47 says Chapter VII’s consumer protections apply irrespective of the legal system selected by the agreement, and §48 renders an exclusion of Chapter VII rights void. Those provisions do not resolve international service, jurisdiction, recognition or enforcement against a foreign supplier, all of which remain deferred. C044. South African Government

G3.10 CPA business-day calculation

CPA §2(6) provides that where the Act prescribes business days:

1. exclude the day on which the triggering event occurs;
2. include the day on which the required act occurs; and
3. exclude public holidays, Saturdays and Sundays.

C046. South African Government+2

South Africa’s ordinary 2026 public-holiday list applies, and Proclamation 346 of 2026 separately declared Wednesday, 4 November 2026 a public holiday throughout the Republic for local-government elections. C046. South African Government+2

G4. Eight fictional workflow classifications

These are invented legal-classification exercises. They do not determine a real provider’s authority, quote a current fee, calculate debt savings or give an actual consumer a deadline.

Workflow 1 — Free initial call, then paid in-person budgeting session

Assumed facts

• A business advertises a free 20-minute telephone introduction.
• The consumer initiates the call.
• No contract or referral payment arises from the free call.
• The consumer later attends an office and signs a once-off paid budgeting-information contract.
• No creditor negotiation, legal work or money handling occurs.

Classification

The free call may be promotion but is not necessarily a paid transaction because consideration has not yet been established. The later in-person contract can be a CPA service transaction. ECTA cooling-off is not engaged merely because the first conversation used a telephone. CPA §16 applies only if the paid transaction resulted from direct marketing; the fact that the consumer initiated the relationship weighs against that classification but does not decide it if the supplier later made a direct offer. C001–C003, C009–C010.

Required documents

Marketing source, call direction, remuneration/referral arrangements, signed service description, price and itemised obligations.

Adverse branch

If the “free” call includes personalised statutory debt-review assessment, legal advice or a paid creditor referral, additional regimes may be triggered.

Missing proof

Actual service acts and remuneration.

Workflow 2 — In-person direct marketing followed by immediate paper acceptance

Assumed facts

• On Friday, 30 October 2026, a representative approaches a consumer in person at a shopping centre.
• The consumer signs a paper-only service contract that day.
• No goods are supplied.
• ECTA §44 does not apply.
• The consumer sends and the supplier receives recorded rescission notice on Monday, 9 November 2026.

Five-business-day computation

Trigger day 30 October is excluded.

Under the assumed facts, notice on 9 November is within the statutory five-business-day period. C031, C046, C050. South African Government+1

Refund computation

No goods were delivered, so the 15-business-day refund period runs after receipt of notice on 9 November:

• days 1–4: 10–13 November;
• days 5–9: 16–20 November;
• days 10–14: 23–27 November;
• day 15: Monday, 30 November 2026.

The result assumes notice was actually received on 9 November and no additional public holiday occurred in that period. C032, C046, C050.

Adverse branch

If the agreement was actually an electronic transaction to which ECTA §44 applied, CPA §16 would step aside.

Workflow 3 — Outbound electronic marketing and online acceptance

Assumed facts

• The supplier sends a targeted marketing message.
• The natural-person consumer clicks a link and accepts online.
• No service begins during the first seven days.
• ECTA Chapter VII otherwise applies.

Classification

This is both direct marketing and an electronic transaction, but CPA §16 expressly yields if ECTA §44 applies. The qualifying cooling-off route is therefore ECTA’s seven-day service rule, with a 30-day refund after cancellation if advance payment was made. C033, C035, C039–C040.

Clock

Let T be the legally established agreement-conclusion date:

• cancellation period: T + the statutory seven-day period;
• refund after valid cancellation at C: within C + 30 days.

P08 does not convert those ordinary-day periods to business days or invent an exact cutoff time. C047.

Adverse branch

If the service began with the consumer’s consent before the seven-day period ended, §44 may be excluded. The separate §43 disclosure duties still require analysis.

Missing documents

Electronic acceptance record, terms presented, time of conclusion, service-start log, consent and payment record.

Workflow 4 — Consumer-initiated electronic service with immediate performance

Assumed facts

• The consumer finds the website independently.
• There was no outbound direct marketing.
• The online contract states that work may start immediately.
• The consumer checks a separate box requesting immediate commencement.
• The supplier actually begins reviewing the budget the same day.

Classification

CPA §16 is not triggered because the transaction did not result from direct marketing. ECTA §44 ordinarily covers a natural-person electronic service transaction, but §42(2)(d) may remove that cooling-off right where the service actually began with consent before the period ended. C035, C041.

This does not eliminate ECTA §43 disclosure duties, CPA unfair-term rules or remedies for nonperformance. The separate consent should not be described as a universal waiver.

Adverse branch

A pre-ticked box, hidden term or no actual service commencement may fail the factual predicate. P08 does not determine the validity of a particular interface.

Workflow 5 — Twelve-month periodic service cancelled early

Assumed facts

• A natural-person consumer enters a 12-month advisory contract.
• The contract is not electronic and did not result from direct marketing.
• On Monday, 2 November 2026, the supplier receives written cancellation notice.
• §14 applies.

Twenty-business-day computation

The notice day is excluded. November 4 is excluded as a public holiday, and weekends are excluded:

• day 1: Tuesday, 3 November;
• day 2: Thursday, 5 November;
• days 3–18: 6–27 November, excluding weekends;
• day 19: Monday, 30 November;
• day 20: Tuesday, 1 December 2026.

The assumed termination point is therefore after the 20-business-day notice period ending 1 December. C028, C046, C049. South African Government+1

The consumer remains responsible for amounts properly owed through cancellation. Any extra penalty must be reasonable under regulation 5’s multi-factor test; it cannot automatically equal every remaining monthly fee or defeat the right to cancel. No numerical penalty is calculated because the regulation provides factors, not a universal formula. C030.

Adverse branch

Section 14 would not apply if both contracting parties were juristic persons.

Workflow 6 — Partially performed fixed fee with a misleading guarantee

Assumed facts

• The contract charges a single fictional fixed fee for budget preparation and three creditor approaches.
• The supplier completes the budget but makes no creditor approaches.
• Marketing promised that every creditor would accept a reduction.

Classification

The guarantee may be false or misleading under §41. Failure to perform the creditor work may engage §54, allowing correction or a reasonable partial refund based on the extent of the failure. It does not automatically determine that the entire fee must be refunded; equally, a “non-refundable” clause does not automatically defeat statutory rights. C017–C024, C048, C051.

Missing documents

Exact promise, work records, fee allocation, cancellation route and actual creditor mandate.

Adverse branch

If the provider accurately promised only to make reasonable proposals and did so competently, creditor rejection alone may not establish defective service.

Workflow 7 — Contingent fee where no settlement is accepted

Assumed facts

• The contract says a fee becomes due only if a creditor accepts a signed settlement.
• The provider sends proposals, but no creditor accepts.
• No separate administration fee is stated.

Classification

On the assumed wording, the contractual contingency has not occurred. The supplier cannot turn a success-only fee into an earned fixed fee solely by asserting that work was performed. C015, C047, C052.

Adverse branch

A different contract may have separately disclosed staged charges. Their fairness, performance and disclosure would require independent analysis.

Missing proof

Full agreement, definition of “acceptance,” creditor communications and invoice.

Workflow 8 — Mixed legal work, fund control and a business customer

Assumed facts

• A small company below the R2 million threshold buys online assistance.
• The provider proposes to draft court papers, hold repayments and negotiate creditor releases.
• The customer is a juristic person.

Classification

The CPA may apply generally because the company is below the threshold, but CPA §14 does not apply between juristic persons and ECTA Chapter VII’s consumer definition is limited to a natural person. Regulation 44’s individual-consumer presumption also does not apply. Sections 48–52 may still matter if the CPA otherwise applies. C005, C011, C022, C054.

The proposed legal work and money custody require separate professional and payment-authority analysis. CPA contract compliance does not authorise them. C008, C053.

Missing proof

Entity accounts, contract purpose, actual service acts, legal-professional status and funds-flow authority.

G5. Reviewed gap reconciliation

Authority and route comparison

Full source register — C_ZA-P08-S001 onward

Every fresh source below was accessed on 26 October 2026 PDT / 27 October 2026 UTC. Exact per-source clock times are unknown. PDF page indices are zero-based; printed Gazette pages are listed separately where verified.

Complete atomic claim/evidence register

Complete granular coverage register

G1 — Applicability, actor and agreement: 16 rows

G2 — Formation, disclosure, fees and fairness: 20 rows

G3 — Cancellation and refund routes: 20 rows

G4 — Fictional workflows: 8 rows

G5 — Reviewed gaps and scope: 6 rows

Explicitly deferred legal families: 24 rows

Provincial and territorial register: 9 rows

No province-specific consumer statute, consumer-court rule, municipal rule or local procedure was substantively examined in P08. National CPA/ECTA findings do not clear every local branch.

Evidence-backed article, checklist and tool opportunities

Search/read audit

Official repositories used:

• South African Government/Government Gazette for the CPA, ECTA, commencement notice, threshold notice, regulations, 2026 amendment metadata and public-holiday proclamation.
• National Consumer Commission for 2026 direct-marketing implementation statements and draft guidelines.
• The Presidency/government public-holiday materials for the fictional business-day calculations.

Representative bounded searches included:

• site:gov.za Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 PDF
• site:gov.za Consumer Protection Act fixed term regulation 5
• site:gov.za ECTA section 44 electronic transaction cooling off
• site:gov.za Consumer Protection Act threshold juristic person
• site:gov.za 54521 Consumer Protection Amendment 2026
• site:thencc.org.za National Opt-Out Registry October 2026
• site:gov.za 2026 public holidays South Africa
• site:gov.za 4 November 2026 public holiday proclamation

Material access/currentness limits:

1. The official 2026 CPA amendment landing page links to an unrelated attachment. One different official route—the NCC’s legislation/media pages—was used instead. The actual Gazette body was not reconstructed through a hidden endpoint or non-official copy.
2. The original CPA and ECTA Acts were read with identified later amendment bodies, but no claim is made that either PDF is a complete October 2026 consolidation.
3. The R2 million juristic-person threshold was found in the final 2011 notice. No later successor was established through the bounded search; permanent currentness is not asserted.
4. The 2026 opt-out guidelines were draft/non-binding at the access date and were not promoted into law.
5. No actual agreement, website checkout, call recording, invoice, mandate, creditor communication or proof of performance was available.
6. No named provider, registrant, person, company, licence, borrower, property or private case record was searched.
7. No complaint, contact, filing, form, application, purchase, account change or publication occurred.

Researcher self-check and counts

Consistency checks

• No NCR debt-counselling price was transplanted into private-service law.
• No P06 client-money conclusion or P07 fee-currentness conclusion was adopted.
• CPA contract compliance was kept separate from professional or payment permission.
• CPA §16 was not stacked on top of an applicable ECTA §44 right.
• ECTA’s “days” were not changed to “business days.”
• Section 17 was not treated as a universal retainer-cancellation rule.
• A “non-refundable” clause was not treated as automatically valid or automatically void.
• Partial service failure was linked to a reasonable, fact-sensitive remedy rather than a guaranteed full refund.
• No fee percentage, settlement outcome or current private-service cap was invented.
• November 4, 2026 was excluded in the fictional CPA business-day calculations because an actual national proclamation was read.
• National statutes were not treated as all-provincial/local verification.
• No independent-review or country-acceptance claim is made.

Exact next primary-source question

For a precisely defined private debtor-advisory workflow and contract, which activities—if any—cross from ordinary budgeting information and consensual communication into NCA debt counselling, reserved legal practice, FAIS advice/intermediation, debt collection or regulated handling of money; and, after that classification, which CPA/ECTA cancellation route and exact contract/refund consequence applies to the actual channel, consumer, service-start and performance facts?

Final disposition: P05 D02 and D03 move from wholly deferred to partial substantive coverage for the national CPA/ECTA gateway. Provider permission, actual contracts, private fee entitlement, complete remedies, all provincial/local branches, foreign enforcement and A097/A098 remain unaccepted.

END C_ZA PASS-08