Members of the Portfolio Committee for Justice and Constitutional development ironed out the final details of POPI yesterday (28 August 2012) in Parliament. It is anticipated that the Committee will vote on the Bill on the 5th of September 2012, wherafter it will be referred to the National Assembly on 11 September 2012.
Thereafter it will find its way to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) whereafter (2 - 4 weeks) it will be referred back to the Assembly for enactment.
No real changes are expected to the 9th draft of POPI (discussed yesterday), and most of the options proposed have been expunged, while one or two were retained.
One aspect still to be considered is whether the exemption provision in section 51(4) of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) should be retained. Thinking was that with the proposed new changes to PAIA as recommended in the POPI Schedule, such exemption could leave the door open for smaller companies or individuals not to have the required information under POPI (to be contained in PAIA manuals) in place. This is however not anticipated and early indicators are that the clause should be retained and left unchanged.
This will bring closure to years of hard work for some, and the beginning of real work for organisations and individuals alike to conform with provisions that are not always easy to understand, yet implement.
Organistaions are therefore well advised to start with their remediation steps, which should be finalised within one year after enactment of POPI.