CIPA approves P34m to fund projects
Ookeditse Malesela | Wednesday February 6, 2019 16:15
Of the approved funds, P19,063,205 has been disbursed for implementation of the projects.
Just after the delivery of the Budget Speech on Monday, Tlokweng MP Kenneth Segokgo asked the minister the following day to abreast Parliament on how CIPA collects and uses its funds. Kenewendo said CIPA started revenue collection as a parastatal effective from April 1, 2015 and the total revenue collected for the period from April 2015 to March 31, 2018, amounted to P121,643,077.00.
She said CIPA only administrates the levy on Technical Devices Fund (TDF) as mandated by the Copyrights and Neighbouring Rights Act and the monies are collected on behalf of government by the Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS).
“Revenue collected through the levy for a period of April 2008 to March 2018 amounts to P62,936,070.32. Out of the monies collected by BURS through the levy on TDF, P7,154,369 was utilised to establish the Copyright Society of Botswana COSBOTS),” Kenewendo said.
She added that CIPA annually remits all the revenue collected through its services to the government and the revenue forms part of the Consolidated Fund (GCF).
“I am unable to state CIPA’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) because it remits all the revenue collected to GCF. However, CIPA facilitates ease of doing business for various sectors of the economy to thrive,” she said.
CIPA was established in 2011 by an act of Parliament and it became operational on November 14, 2014, CIPA’s mandate is to register businesses and protect intellectual property rights, promoting and enabling rights of investors and rights of holders.