Compliance, Enterprise Data Protection

POPIA

Fact sheet

You may have heard that South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act—known either as the POPI Act or just POPIA—became effective on July 1st 2020 (that’s what’s known as its commencement date). The good news is that POPIA includes a grace period of one year, meaning that while the regulation is currently effective, the official enforcement date for POPIA is July 1st 2021. Here are some bite-sized facts you may actually need to know:

• The right to privacy is constitutionally protected by the Republic of South Africa, guaranteed in section 14.
• POPIA strikes a balance between the individual’s right to privacy and other rights including the access to information to provide goods and services.
• POPIA is part of a global movement to codify international standards of the human right to privacy while promoting the free flow of information.