The Presidency has announced that most of the Protection of Personal Information Act will commence on 1 July 2020.
These are the essential parts of the legislation that deal with how personal information should be processed (the eight key conditions for processing personal information – based on international best standards),unsolicited electronic marketing, codes of conduct, and general enforcement.
For more on the protection of personal information, see some of our earlier blogs here, or here.
One will recall that as from 11 April 2014, section 1, and Part A of chapter 5 (dealing with the Information Regulator), and sections 112 and 113 (dealing with regulations to the Act) were made effective. It has taken six years for South Africa to get there, but here we are! POPI will be effective shortly.
Importantly, in terms of 114, all parties have one year to ensure full compliance – so the clock starts ticking soon.
All businesses should carefully consider how they deal with personal information – and determine whether they have the applicable processes and policies in place.
If you have any questions, please comment below and I will be happy to try and answer.
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