We noted, with concern, that certain members of the public now believe that the implementation date set for POPI compliance has been extended to 1 February 2022. We believe that this confusion may stem from the Information Regulator’s Amendment Notice, which was released on 11 June 2021.

There seems to be confusion in the market relating to which business entities must comply with the provisions of POPIA and more specifically with reference to the PAIA Manual.

Information protection authorities from across the globe are now pursuing investigative bodies for non-compliance with legislation aimed at Protecting Personal Information. An Investigative firm was recently fined more than €150,000 for illegally obtaining private bank records of an individual whom they were investigating.

Over the past few months, you may have received various e-mails from business entities claiming that you indicated that you would like to receive information from such business, OR that you are a previous customer and as such could receive the electronic marketing.
You would have further been informed that should you wish not to receive such e-mails, you can “unsubscribe” or use the “opt-out” function.