South Africa announces commencement date for parts of privacy law

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that sections 2 to 38; 55 to 109; 111; and  114 (1), (2) and (3) of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) would commence on 1 July 2020. POPI was enacted in 2013, but most of its provisions did not come into effect immediately. The provisions coming into effect will regulate the lawful processing of data and the general enforcement of the Act. They will require issuance of codes of conduct by the information regulator.

The president has directed the South African Human Rights Commission to hand over all functions related to the oversight of data protection to the information regulator by 30 June 2021.