The POPI Commencement Date is Coming. Are you Ready?
The POPI act, (Protection of Personal Data Act), was gazetted on the 26th November 2013; the Information Regulator was appointed with effect from the 1st December 2016 and the final regulations were made on the 14th November 2018. The question now, is: “when do I need to become compliant?”
The Commencement Date for the POPI Act has been predicted to be as soon as April 2020.
Once the commencement date of the POPI Act has been proclaimed there will be a grace period of one year for all affected entities to comply with the provisions of the act. As of that date, all companies and individuals who collect, store, process and share personal information of any Data Subjects will have to comply with the POPI act.
This entails developing a POPI System that is in line with the POPI Act, including:
- All legislatively required documentation and processes,
- All business practices communicated correctly
- All lawfully correct procedures followed by all employees of your organisation
- Training, Roles and Awareness programs to be in place.
When the POPI Act commences you will have one year to become fully compliant or face hefty fines, and possibly jail time. Any smart businessperson would already be on their way to a failsafe POPI system that will not only keep their data subject’s information safe but will also keep the CEO and Information Officer free from unnecessary prosecution. If there should be a leak, incorrect deletion practices or unwarranted sharing of information, to name a few examples, the information officer could be held liable. However, if the company/individual is compliant with the POPI act, these instances can be avoided.
GLA offer services and a POPI documentary toolkit that will have your POPI needs solved seamlessly. We offer a professional product that contains all the necessary documentation and templates to get your POPI system up and running in a functional manner.