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The National Assembly has on 7 September 2016 voted in favour of the nomination of Advocate Pansy Tlakula as the Chairperson of the Information Regulator and Advocate Lebogang Stroom and Johannes Weapond, as full time members of the Information Regulator, with Professor Tana Pistorius and Sizwe Snail as part-time members. The appointment of Advocate Tlakula and the members of the Information Regulator is subject to the confirmation by the President of South Africa.

The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) was signed into law by the President in November 2013 and certain provisions of the Act relating to the appointment of the Information Regulator were made effective in April 2014.

The Information Regulator will be tasked with monitoring compliance with, and enforcement of, the provisions of POPI.

KPMG’s POPI specialist and attorney, Nikki Pennel says: “Following the recommendations of National Assembly, the publication of the effective date of the substantive provisions of the Act is likely to soon follow. Companies will have 12 months from the commencement date to become fully compliant,” says Pennel.

Given the relatively short transitional period afforded by POPI, organisations should be already well underway with their POPI compliance programmes. KPMG has assisted a number of clients identify their risks and compliance gaps under POPI and implementing POPI compliance programs to mitigate against those risks. KPMG’s POPI team is made up of attorneys, IT specialists and other advisory professionals, who are also members of the global KPMG Privacy Practice.

 

Issued by KPMG