What is meant by “local content”?​​

Local Content is that portion of goods, works and services that have been generated and produced in South Africa. Companies that import raw material and convert this raw material in South Africa also contribute to local content to the extent that the South African value-added processes and additional inputs count as Local Content. 

The SABS Local Content verification provides quality assurance as to the level and integrity of local content in the goods, works and services of suppliers. This verification will provide an independent benchmark that can be trusted and relied on by national, provincial and local government departments, municipalities, state owned institutions, science councils, government agencies and other public sector institutions.​

Local Content Defined​

The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) has been appointed by the Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) as the verification Authority for Local Content in South Africa.

The verification and certification by the SABS is designed to give the state proof that it is local manufacturers who are benefitting from the ‘local content’ requirements. The winning bidders in state department, state-owned company and other public entity tenders are required to have their ‘local content declarations’ verified to ensure there is no misrepresentation (fronting or
misstatement of local content). A major benefit from this centralised approach to compliance monitoring is that it is possible to build up a policy-oriented database of information covering
localisation results across the designated sectors.​

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