Hi Voices!

This may not be much of a Youth Tips post that you’re used to but it’s important that you’re aware of this new act that will be coming into effect very, very soon!

Every business with employees, customers and suppliers must comply with the Protection of Personal Information Act (often called the POPI Act or POPIA) which comes into effect on 1 July 2021.

The POPI Act is a new all-inclusive piece of legislation that safeguards the integrity and sensitivity of private information. Companies are required to carefully manage the data capture and storage process of Personal Information within the lawful framework as set out in the Act.

“Personal information means information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person, and where it is applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person, including, but not limited to:

1. information relating to the race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, national, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental health, well-being, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth of the person;
2. information relating to the education or the medical, financial, criminal or employment history of the person;
3. any identifying number, symbol, e-mail address, physical address, telephone number, location information, online identifier or other particular assignment to the person;
4. the biometric information of the person;
5. the personal opinions, views or preferences of the person;
6. correspondence sent by the person that is implicitly or explicitly of a private or confidential nature or further correspondence that would reveal the contents of the original correspondence;
7. the views or opinions of another individual about the person; and
8. the name of the person if it appears with other personal information relating to the person or if the disclosure of the name itself would reveal information about the person.”

According to POPIA website, the purpose of this act is to —

• give effect to the constitutional right to privacy, by safeguarding personal information when processed by a responsible party, subject to justifiable limitations that are aimed at —
  • a) balancing the right to privacy against other rights, particularly the right of access to information; and
  • b) protecting important interests, including the free flow of information within the Republic and across international borders;
• regulate the manner in which personal information may be processed, by establishing conditions, in harmony with international standards, that prescribe the minimum threshold requirements for the lawful processing of personal information;
• provide persons with rights and remedies to protect their personal information from processing that is not in accordance with this act; and
• establish voluntary and compulsory measures, including the establishment of an Information Regulator, to ensure respect for and to promote, enforce and fulfil the rights protected by this act.

For more information, please visit https://popia.co.za/