The information regulator has finally established the enforcement committee (committee). The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) provides for the establishment of an Enforcement Committee (see section 93). The committee has a key role to play in supporting the information regulator in its dual mandate to swiftly resolve POPIA and access to information (PAIA) complaints. In this article we unpack the roles and responsibilities of the enforcement committee.
Who makes up the enforcement committee?
Advocate Helen Fourie SC will chair the committee and Ms Simonè Margadie will serve as the alternative Chairperson. The committee also has 14 other members with diverse professional backgrounds and expertise. For example, these members have expertise in law, information security, education, finance, accounting, auditing, actuarial science, forensics, and criminal investigations.
What does the enforcement committee do?
The committee will consider all POPIA and PAIA complaints that the regulator presents to them. The committee will consider all the evidence and they will make a finding in respect of the complaint. After considering the evidence, the committee will present its findings to the regulator together with recommendations they propose. POPIA empowers the committee to make recommendations to the regulator on proposed actions that the regulator can take against a responsible party or an information officer that infringes on someone’s rights to privacy.
The PAIA regulations provide for a complainant to lodge a complaint with the regulator if a public or private body denies their access request. As with a POPIA complaint process, the PAIA regulations empower the committee to assess PAIA complaints and make recommendations to the regulator. If the regulator agrees with the committee’s findings and recommendations, the regulator will issue an enforcement notice to a concerned party. An enforcement notice (section 95) is a written recommendation of actions that the Enforcement Committee sends to the information regulator. It is similar to a ruling from an authority.
Actions for you to take
- Learn more about the enforcement committee by reading the regulator’s media statement.
- Dive into the details of an enforcement notice by reading our post.
- Resolve a potential dispute before it spirals out of control for you by asking us to assist you.
- Plan how you will resolve disputes by joining our programme and reading our Resolving data protection disputes module.
