Protection of Personal Information Act | POPIA lens

Data protection seen through a POPIA lens. The Protection of Personal Information Act (or POPIA) commenced on 1 July 2020 and the deadline to comply was 1 July 2021. If your organisation has to be POPI compliant, you need to work on this on an ongoing basis. It is a journey and not a destination. This is why Michalsons has developed a POPIA lens that perfectly compliments our data protection programme and focuses on data protection from a South African perspective.

The POPI Act is South Africa’s version of the EU GDPR and sets the conditions for responsible parties (controllers) to lawfully process South African data subjects’ personal information. Now that POPIA is in effect it is your organisation’s responsibility to process information responsibly and in line with POPIA’s eight main conditions (note that there are three additional conditions aside from the eight). But data protection can be complex and overwhelming and it’s best to take POPIA on with our guidance.

The POPIA lens allows you to work through data protection from the South African POPI perspective. Doing this with a private consultant is typically an expensive exercise but our POPIA lens is a complimentary addition to your already well-priced, practical core programme.

Will joining the POPIA lens help my organisation comply?

Yes. The POPIA lens, like your core programme, is designed to empower you so your organisation can use its own resources to address this important issue. Thanks to our extensive experience in the data protection field, we have been ready for POPIA for quite some time and are the perfect team to lead your organisation through this process.

The POPIA lens applies to every organisation that must comply with POPIA and suits organisations of all sizes.

Knowing if POPIA applies to you can get tricky, and if you’re not sure, read our insight on it or watch our video.

• Protect South African data subjects from harm by protecting their personal information.
• Reduce your overall costs by supplementing your core programme with our complimentary POPIA lens.
• Empower your organisation to process personal information in line with POPIA’s eight requirements.
• Reduce the risks of non-compliance, like damaging your brand or losing customer trust, by focusing your efforts on POPIA.
• Save time and fast-track your efforts with our expertly developed lens.
• Ensure your compliance decisions and communications are privileged from authorities. You’ll ensure this by engaging with Michalsons who are independent professional legal advisers.
• Build trust with your data subjects (or controllers) by being in a position to get certified by an agency or by displaying the Data Protection Champ badge.

• We are a South African company that specialises in data protection making us the ideal experts to guide you through POPIA.
• We provide POPIA insights that will simplify the issues and tasks at hand – empowering your organisation to work through its obligations.
• Our significant expertise in this area will help you reduce costs and prevent your data subjects from coming to harm.

You need to look through this lens on an ongoing basis. If your organisation is or has already started its data protection journey (e.g. in line with the EU GDPR) then it’s likely that your POPIA journey has already begun and shouldn’t take as long as if your organisation starts from scratch.

A lens is complimentary and you get access to it by joining the data protection programme. It contextualises data protection for a particular audience, such as community schemes, non-profits, or schools. The lens serves as an additional guide as you work through the core programme.