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POPI approved by NCOP's Select Committee

6/12/2013

The National Council of Provinces' (NCOP) Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development has approved POPI today (12 June 2013) after having reviewed an opinion from its law advisors on certain amendments.

The Committee must now report back to the NCOP.

The Council must then, probably after the Q2 recess, during Q3, either:

- Pass the Bill;
- Pass the Bill subject to amendments proposed by the Council; or
- Reject the Bill.

If the Council passes POPI without proposed amendments, the Bill must be submitted to the President for assent. We doubt whether this will happen.

If the NCOP passes POPI subject to proposed amendments (as we anticipate is what will happen) or if the NCOP rejects POPI (which we sincerely doubt will happen), it goes back to the National Assembly.

The National Assembly must then reconsider POPI by taking any amendments proposed by the NCOP into account and may pass POPI again (with or without the NCOP proposed amendments) or may decide not to proceed with the Bill.

A Bill that has been passed by the National Assembly must then be submitted to the President for assent.

We therefore believe that assent or enactment is still on track for 2013.

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NCOP reconvened on POPI

5/22/2013

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The NCOP's Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development reconvened its session on POPI today and we conducted a workshop to create broader clarification. Clarification was sought from the Committee on POPI to enable them in reaching a decision on the recommendations made previously by the FSB and National Treasury.

The Justice Department and the FSB resolved some of the concerns, but the FSB is still seeking an exemption from certain processing requirements which will according to them, break down cross border data transfer barriers with other regulators, internationally. Section 38 seem to create the stumble block.

The Justice Department, SA Law Reform Commission and franciscronje.com alike, are of the opinion that the current legislation is not sector specific and only creates a framework whereunder the processing of personal information should be conducted. This does not preclude sectors from submitting their own industry specific codes of conduct for approval by the Information Regulator, by which its members would be bound.

The current format of the Bill (POPI) is wide enough to create ample space for the various sectors or industries to manouvre within. This is quite evident from section 11 of POPI, if read within the intended context.

The Council of Medical Schemes (CMS) also submitted its comments but it was in essence agreed amongst the relevant participants that their aim was only there to seek clarity as to the interpretation of certain sections. CMS is fully supportive of POPI and made it clear that their interest is in aligning its members with the legislation through a thorough understanding of the various conditions and sections of the Bill they raised. They will engage further with the relevant stakeholders.

It was however decided that the Committee will utilise its own law advisors to reach interpretation and finalisation of the Bill, which should hopefully lead to approval and eventual enactment.

It is however unclear at this stage whether the Committee will make any recommendations, or grant permission for the inclusion of sector recommendations. We however expect that some minor amendments will be allowed which are consequential or technical in nature.

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Francis Cronje is an Information Governance specialist and provides insight from a legal and governance perspective on a wide range of topics in the Information and ICT sphere, including matters pertaining to the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) / Data Protection / Privacy, Information Security and other related topics.

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POPI approved by NCOP's Select Committee

NCOP reconvened on POPI

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