South Africa POPIA Compliance
Operationalize POPIA compliance with the most comprehensive PrivacyOps platform.
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In order to protect the data of individuals in South Africa, Parliament assented to the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) on 19th November 2013. The commencement date of section 1, Part A of Chapter 5, section 112 and section 113 was 11 April 2014. The commencement date of the remaining sections (excluding section 110 and 114(4)) was 1st July 2020. As per the Regulator’s Operational Readiness Plan the Regulator will be able to take enforcement actions for the violation of POPIA by July 1st 2021.
POPIA gives data subjects their constitutional right to privacy, by safeguarding their personal information when processed by an organisation, balancing the right to privacy against other rights. It also aims to protect important interests, including the free flow of information within the Republic and across international borders. It also provides individuals the right to make data subject rights request and the ability to make complaints to the Regulator for violations of POPIA which carry serious reputational, financial and operational risks;
The solution
SECURITI.ai enables organizations to comply with the POPIA regulations through AI-driven PI data discovery, DSR automation, documented accountability, enhanced visibility into data processing activities and AI-driven process automation.
SECURITI.ai supports enterprises in their journey toward compliance with the POPIA through automation, enhanced data visibility and identity linking.
See how our comprehensive PrivacyOps platform helps you comply with various sections of POPIA
Customize a data subject rights request portal for seamless customer care
Create customized web forms according to your brand image with the DSR request format and accept verified data subject rights requests. Automate the initiation of fulfillment workflows when verified requests are received.
Automate data subject access request handling
POPIA Section: 5(1)(b)
Data subjects need to be notified about their data privacy rights and organizations are required to simplify the initiation of verified DSR requests. The automation of the delivery and generation of secure data access reports will greatly reduce the risk of compliance violations and reduce the workforce required to comply with all the requests.
Secure fulfillment of data access and port requests
POPIA Sections: 5(1)(b), 23
Disclosure of information to the data subjects within a limited time frame of receiving a verifiable data request is a must for any organization looking to comply. This will be free of charge, and delivered through a secure, centralized portal.
Automate processing of rectification requests
POPIA Sections: 5(1)(c), 24
With the help of automated data subject verification workflows across all appearances of a subject’s personal data you can seamlessly fulfill all data rectification requests.
Automate erasure requests
POPIA Sections: 5(1)(c), 24
Fulfill data subject’s’ erasure requests, swiftly, through automated and flexible workflows.
Automate objection and restriction of processing requests
POPIA Sections: 5(1)(d), 11(3)(4)
Create a framework for restriction and objection of processing handling based on business requirements, with collaborative workflows.
Continuous monitoring and tracking
POPIA Section: 8
Keep track of risks involved by continuously scanning and monitoring data against non-compliance to subject rights, security controls or data residency.
Automate People Data Graph
POPIA Sections: 15, 17
Discover personal information stored across all your internal and external systems within the organization and link them back to a unique data subject. Also visualize personal data sprawl and identify compliance risks.
Meet cookie compliance
POPIA Sections: 11(1)(a), 12
Automatically scan the web properties within your organization, categorizing tags and cookies. Also build customizable cookie banners, collect consent and provide a preference center.
Monitor and track consent
POPIA Sections: 11(2), 15, 35(1)
Track consent revocation of data subjects to prevent the transfer or processing of data without their consent. Seamlessly demonstrate consent compliance to regulators and data subjects.
Assess POPIA readiness
POPIA Sections: 8, 19(2), Regulation 4(1)(b)
With the help of our multi-regulation, collaborative, readiness and PIIA assessment system you can gauge your organization's posture against POPIA requirements, identify the gaps and address the risks. Seamlessly being able to expand assessment capabilities across your vendor ecosystem to maintain compliance against POPIA requirements.
Map data flows
POPIA Sections: 15, 17
Track data flows in your organizations, trace this data, catalog, transfer and document business process flows internally and to service providers or third parties.
Manage vendor risk
POPIA Sections: 20, 21
Keep track of privacy and security readiness for all your service providers from a single interface. Collaborate instantly with vendors, automate data requests and deletions and manage all vendor contracts and compliance documents.
Breach Response Notification
POPIA Sections: 21(2), 22
Automates compliance actions and breach notifications to concerned stakeholders in relation to security incidents by leveraging a knowledge database on security incident diagnosis and response.
5 key data subject rights encoded within POPIA
Consumers have the right to learn categories of personal information that businesses collect, sell, or disclose about them, and to whom information is sold or disclosed.
Consumers have the right to request businesses to delete all the personal information that the business has collected about them.
Consumers have the right to prevent businesses from selling or disclosing their personal data.
Consumers have the right to hold businesses responsible for security breaches of consumers’ personal data even if consumers cannot prove injury.
Consumers have the right to equal service and price, whether or not they choose to exercise their privacy rights.
Quick facts about POPIA
1
POPIA has been a work-in-progress by
the South African Law Reform
Commission in 2005.
2
The delay in its enactment was because of the publication of the draft EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) in 2013, as the POPIA drafting committee wanted to consider some of the proposed regulations in the GDPR.
3
POPIA has 8 legal conditions for the lawful processing of data.
4
The South African Information Regulators (SAIR) is the enforcing body of the POPIA which came into effect on April 11, 2014.
5
Currently, the maximum administrative fine which may be imposed by the Regulator under POPIA is ZAR 10 million (approx. €520,000). POPIA also allows affected individuals and the Regulator to sue in civil court for compensation for violations of the law caused by organizations and some violations also carry criminal penalties.
