Data Protection

15 July 2020 455

The Protection of Personal Information Act (Act 4 of 2013) came into effect on 1 July 2020.

The purpose of the Act is to give effect to every persons Constitutional Right to privacy, to promote the protection of personal information processed by public or private Bodies, to introduce conditions to establish the requirements for the processing of Personal information and to provide for the establishment of an information Regulator to perform powers, duties & functions.

Section 14 of the Constitution states that everyone has the right to privacy and the right to privacy includes the right to protection against unlawful collection, retention, dissemination and use of personal information

The state should respect, promote, protect and fulfil theses rights.

The Test for POPI is that if your business processes personal information, enter it into a record or filling system and the processing is done by a responsible person domiciled in South Africa, you will have to comply with the POPI Act .

We are all required by law to comply. The processing of the personal information is an asset to most companies because without it you won’t be able to transact or do business. Compliance is becoming a prerequisite and if you want to continue doing business with other companies you will have to comply.

The personal information should be processed lawfully and in reasonable manners that does not infringe on the rights and privacy of the data subject.

The information must be recorded into an automated or non-automated system and the recorded documents should be in the possession of the responsible party. The definition of automated is, any equipment capable of operating automatically in response to instruction given for the purpose of processing information, and the definition of non-automated is any filling system.

The data subject or competent person or where it is a child (the child should be assisted by a guardian), they will have to firstly give their consent.

The processing should be necessary to carry out an action or for the conclusion or performance of a contract of which the data subject is a party to. If Processing complies with an obligation imposed by law on the responsible person. Processing protects a legitimate interest of the data subject and the processing is necessary for the proper performance of a public law duty by a public body.

The data subject may at any point before the processing of information, withdraw his/her consent and the data subject may also object on reasonable grounds relating to his/her particular situation unless legislation provides for such processing.

We all have to be aware that the POPI ACT is now effective as from 1 July 2020 and that we all have to comply with the act if we want to continue doing business with other companies because it is a prerequisite and because we are required by law to comply.

 

 

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