With great anticipation since 2013, South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) is days away from its full commencement on 1 July 20

Implementation of POPIA delayed in South Africa

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2021-06-23 13:00:07

With great anticipation since 2013, South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) is days away from its full commencement on 1 July 2021, or is it?

Information security, privacy, and data protection are the main drivers behind the creation and implementation of POPIA in South Africa. Signed by the South African President on 19 November 2013 and published in the Government Gazette on 26 November 2013, POPIA along with the Cyber Crimes Act which was also signed into law earlier in 2021, is part of South Africa’s plan to monitor, regulate and rein control over Mzansi’s cyberspace.

The Information Regulator (South Africa), is the office mandated to enforce the Act. Accountable to the National Assembly, its powers and functions include issuing codes of conduct for different sectors. Paramount is its compliance enforcement with provisions of the act, towards both public and private entities.

In an unexpected turn of events, eight days before the full commencement of the Act, the Information Regulator kicked the can down the road even further. In a media statement, the regulator cited technical glitches in its IT systems that resulted in the suspension of portal registration of all principal information officers and deputy information officers.

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