Protection Of Personal Information Bill 2009

The Protection of Personal Information Bill 2009 (POPI or the Bill) was approved by the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development (the Committee) today. This is the first step towards the introduction of a new data protection regime for South Africa and follows a lengthy period of deliberation on the Bill by the Committee.

Impact

POPI proposes the introduction of a number of fundamental principles aimed at protecting personal information held by businesses and brings South Africa in line with international data protection laws. Once it is enacted, POPI will become South Africa's primary legislation dealing with the processing of personal information. Its impact will be far-reaching and will significantly affect the manner in which companies collect, store and disseminate personal information. In general, POPI will apply to the processing of personal information entered in a record by a responsible party who is processing information in South