POPIA

What is the Protection of Personal Information Act of South Africa?

The Protection of Personal Information Act abbreviated as POPIA, is an extensive framework aimed at protecting the privacy and data of individuals in South Africa by outlining requirements and obligations for entities that collect, process and use that information. According to The Act, ‘processing’ encompasses actions such as collecting, receiving, recording, organizing, retrieving, using, disseminating or distributing personal information. Established under The Act is the Information Regulator, which is tasked with overseeing and ensuring compliance with The Act across both public and private domains.

To whom does The Act apply?

POPIA is applicable to any entity, be it a company, organization, or individual, engaged in handling personal data within South Africa or utilizing automated or manual data processing methods within the nation’s borders – all viewed as either responsible parties or as operating parties within the framework of The Act.

Responsible parties are viewed as public or private bodies or any other individual which, alone, or in conjunction with others, determines the purpose of and means for processing personal information. Simply put, responsible parties process personal information to serve a purpose such as facilitating the function of a company or providing a service.

Operating parties, however, are viewed as those individual(s) who process personal information for a responsible party in terms of a contract or mandate, without coming under direct authority of that party (for example an entity contracted by a responsible party to assist with the processing of personal information for such responsible party, like databases, hosting services, etc.)

What is the purpose of The Act?

The main purpose of The Act is to include but is not limited to the protection of personal data against theft, misuse and malicious behaviors (e.g. blackmailing, the use of personal information for monetary gain, etc.). This is, therefore, in alignment with the constitutional right to privacy and prevents the infringement of this right. 

The Act Provides:

  1. Accountability – responsible parties must ensure that all conditions and measures set out in The Act are complied with at the time of determining the purpose of the processing. 
  2. Processing limitation – personal data may only be processed in a fair, lawful manner, along with the consent of the data subject.
  3. Purpose specific - personal data may only be processed for specific and legitimate reasons.
  4. Further processing limitation - personal data may not be processed for a secondary purpose unless that processing is compatible with the original purpose.
  5. Information quality – the responsible party must take reasonable steps to ensure that collected personal data is complete, accurate, updated and not misleading.
  6. Openness – data subjects must be aware that their personal data is being collected and for what purpose it will be used.
  7. Security safeguards – personal data must be kept secure against risk of loss, modification, unlawful access, unauthorized destruction and disclosure.
  8. Data subject participation – data subjects have the right to request whether their personal data is held and to correct or delete any of that personal data.

The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) of South Africa serves as a crucial legal framework aimed at safeguarding individuals' privacy and data integrity. It applies to all entities handling personal data within the country, setting out stringent requirements and obligations for responsible and operating parties. POPIA aims to protect personal data against theft, misuse, and malicious behaviors, aligning with constitutional rights to privacy. 

The Act imposes stipulated conditions on handling sensitive data, and non-compliance may result in significant fines, penalties, or imprisonment. The establishment of the Information Regulator further ensures effective implementation and enforcement of POPIA. Overall, POPIA plays a crucial role in promoting responsible data handling practices and upholding individuals' privacy rights in South Africa.