When will POPI affect me?
The Act was signed into law in November 2013. We are now awaiting a commencement date for the act. After the commencement date, a compliance grace period of 1 year will exist, which may be extended to a maximum 3 years.
Protection of Personal Information Act
POPI refers to South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act which seeks to regulate the Processing of Personal Information. Personal Information broadly means any information relating to an identifiable, living natural person or juristic person (companies, CC’s etc.) and includes, but is not limited to:
- contact details: email, telephone, address etc.
- demographic information: age, sex, race, birth date, ethnicity etc.
- history: employment, financial, educational, criminal, medical history
- biometric information: blood type etc.
- opinions of and about the person
Does POPI really apply to me?
Accountability for compliance rests with a Responsible Party, meaning a public or private body or any other person which, alone or in conjunction with others, determines the purpose of and means for processing personal information. Generally, the Responsible party must be a resident in South Africa, or the processing should occur within South Africa (subject to certain exclusions).
There are cases where POPI does not apply. Exclusions include:
- purely household or personal activity
- some state functions including criminal prosecutions, national security etc.
- journalism under a code of ethics
- judiciary functions
Why should I comply with POPI?
POPI promotes transparency regarding what information is collected and how it is to be processed. This openness is likely to increase customer confidence in the organisation. POPI compliance involves capturing the minimum required data, ensuring accuracy, and removing data that is no longer required. These measures are likely to improve the overall reliability of the organisation databases. Compliance demands identifying Personal Information and taking reasonable measures to protect the data. This will likely reduce the risk of data breaches and the associated public relations and legal ramifications for the organisation. Non-compliance with the Act could expose the Responsible Party to a penalty of a fine and / or imprisonment of up to 12 months. In certain cases, the penalty for non-compliance could be a fine and / or imprisonment of up 10 years.