1.1 The Committee, from the outset, took cognisance of the fact that - * the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Amendment Bill (the Bill) emanated from an investigation of the South African Law Reform Commission (the Commission) into sexual offences; and * the final recommendations of the Commission were based on, among others, a process of extensive public participation during the different stages of the Commission's investigation. The Committee consequently made extensive reference to the Commission's report, which highlighted all relevant submissions made to it and the reasons why the Commission did not always follow the recommendations in some of the submissions or portions thereof.