With the enactment of the Protection of Personal Information Act
4 of 2013 ("POPIA"), a fundamental question is posed for
medical institutions and medical research facilities in South
Africa – does a human's biological specimen fall within
the scope and ambit of POPIA which requires such institutions and
facilities to process such specimens in accordance with the
principles of POPIA?
A human biological specimen is any material derived from a human
such as blood, urine, tissues, organs, saliva, DNA/RNA, hair, nail
clippings, or any other cells or fluids - whether collected for
research purposes or as residual specimens from diagnostic,
therapeutic, or surgical procedures. Given the nature of healthcare
services that many healthcare institutions run, the processing of
human biological specimens occurs on a daily basis.
