POPI - Protection of Personal Information Act (South Africa)

Official Name

POPI or the Protection of Personal Information Act, Act No. 4 of 2013

Details About the POPI

The bill has been in effect since July 1, 2020. 

Personal information is extremely widely stated and is information relating to an identifiable, living natural person or juristic person and includes, but is not limited to:

• Biometric information: Blood type, etc.
• Private correspondence
• Opinions of and about the person
• History: employment, financial, educational, criminal, medical history
• Contact details: email, telephone, address, etc.
• Demographic information: age, sex, race, birth date, ethnicity, etc.

The eight information protection principles contained in POPI are the following:

• Principle 1: Accountability
• Principle 2: Processing Limitation
• Principle 3: Purpose Specification
• Principle 4: Further Processing Limitation
• Principle 5: Information Quality
• Principle 6: Openness
• Principle 7: Security Safeguards
• Principle 8: Data Subject Participation

Resources About the POPI:

• Official legislation here 
• A legal perspective here