Parliament has stressed that it wants South Africa’s data protection law called the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) to commence urgently. We still don’t have any specific commencement date or deadline but Parliament said “we need specific timeframes”. We agree – organisations can’t plan if they don’t have specific timeframes. Due to this development, it looks like the POPIA commencement date will be sooner rather than later. But it is still anybody’s guess.

Parliament, in the form of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services, met on 12 May 2020 to listen to a presentation from the information regulator in which it made an urgent plea for the full implementation of POPIA. The regulator has previously asked the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services and the President to bring the remaining sections of POPIA into effect. The regulator said “The urgent need to bring POPIA into full effect cannot be over emphasised. The absence of a fully functional and effective personal information regulatory authority is beginning to have an adverse effect on the country. The number of data breaches in the public and private sectors, the unlawful and unauthorised use of personal information of individuals, cybercrime, and identity theft are increasing at an alarming rate. Until the remaining sections of POPIA are brought into effect, the Regulator is unable to enforce compliance and victims are deprived of an appropriate remedy.”

It appears that the ball is currently in the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development’s court. They need to do something before the President can proclaim the commencement date. Committee Chairperson Mr. Bulelani Magwanishe said “Immediately after the budget process of the department and entities has been finalised, the committee will convene a meeting for an update on this matter. By then we want to hear that all meetings that need to happen have taken place and that the matter is with the President,” said Mr. Magwanishe.

Parliament also wants the regulator to have a bigger budget

Mr. Magwanishe said the “budget of the regulator also needs to be addressed urgently. We cannot give them more responsibilities and the money does not flow to them as well.” “In the advent of the fourth industrial revolution, a strong regulator is needed that is well capacitated.”

Strategic and performance plans

The information regulator presented its Annual Performance Plan and Budget for 2020/2021. The time period is 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 so it gives us a good look into the future. Some of the things that stood out for us.

  • It has recruited more people and will be recruiting more.
  • It needs to be separated from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
  • The regulator is in the process of finalising the Draft Guidelines on the drafting of Codes of Conduct.
  • The regulator emphasised the urgent need to bring POPIA into full effect. This will also trigger the PAIA functions transferring from the SAHRC to the regulator.
  • The regulator needs more budget.
  • PAIA compliance is going to become much more important.
  • There are going to be many public awareness workshops.

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