STAATSKOERANT, 24 JANUARIE 2014 No. 37261 Constitution Legislation Ministerial Policy Directives Regulations Licence Conditions Self- Regulation Internal corporate rules The Constitution is binding on all role players and is the basis of legislation and all activities in the communications sector. In particular, the Constitution directs the sector policy to uphold and extend the rights of all South Africans as enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Legislation translates the major policy principles into a legislative framework. Legislation sets the objectives of the communications sector in law, assigns roles to the different players, establishes the procedures that define major activities and provides for enforcement mechanisms. From time to time, Ministerial Policy Directives are issued for consideration by the Regulator. These Policy Directives must be in line with legislation. Regulations are developed by the Regulator to direct network operators and/or service providers to behave in a particular manner concerning a determination and are issued after a public consultation process involving the operators and other interested parties. Licence conditions are issued to an individual operator or a class of operators in case licences are not significant and can be licensed through a registration process The licence conditions contain the parameters of the services to be offered, universal service obligations that are expected from the licensee, and the fees that must be paid to use the radio frequency spectrum. Self-regulation refers to undertakings made by industry associations, which the industry itself monitors and enforces according to codes of behaviour that are established by the industry associations and submitted to the regulator. Internal corporate rules and policies govern the conduct of the network and/or service providers in their internal operations but many, such as human resources policies, must be submitted to the Authority so that it can monitor transformation and other conditions that may be attached to the licence. 12.2 Review of the roles of different Institutions involved in policy 12.2.1 Parliament Section 43 of the Constitution vests the legislative authority to pass and amend laws in Parliament. Parliament therefore plays a critical role in translating major policy principles into legislation. The legislation in turn assigns responsibility to government, regulatory authorities and service providers. Parliament, acting through the Portfolio and Select Committees on Communications, holds the government, regulatory authorities and other public entities involved in the sector to account in terms of their annual performance plans, budgets and audits. Parliament has also on many occasions conducted inquiries into the various activities of the communications sector involving public, private and community operators. 87 This gazette is also available free online at www.gpwonline.co.za 91