New Data Protection Law For South Africa

After 10 years of debate, South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has finally signed South Africa's first framework privacy bill into law, the Protection of Personal Information Bill (PoPI). PoPI will reinforce the right to privacy under Article 14 of the South African Constitution. PoPI will take effect one year after the date of enactment, though there is potential for this transition period to increase to three years, dependent on discussions between the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, and the newly established data protection authority (DPA). After this date, the DPA will be empowered by PoPI to enforce fines of up to 10 million Rand ($957,171) for non-compliance.