The reason why the vast majority of businesses will need to comply with POPIA is because they collect and process personal information of ‘data subjects’ for some or other function of the business. Viewed against a POPIA background, the latter makes up a big chunk of the elephant to digest. We say this because the words used in the Act are defined to stretch wide:
‘Data subjects’ are living human beings as well as entities, such as companies, close corporations and trusts.
‘Processing’ of information includes almost any activity with personal information, for example, where the business collects personal information from a client, customer, employee or service/goods provider to the business, and uses it to issue an invoice or receipt, create a client ledger, to perform a service for the client, to provide a reference for a previous employee, and so forth. The information is typically recorded on paper, or in a computer, stored for a given period, and later deleted or destroyed. Each of the underlined activities constitutes ‘processing’ of personal information. In the industry, one often explains to clients that processing of personal information refers to the whole lifecycle of the information in the hands of the business.
'Personal information’, in turn, is defined to include any piece of information imaginable as long as it relates ‘to an identifiable, living natural person, and where it is applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person’.
Thus, no matter the size of the particular business, as soon as personal information of clients, employees and service providers are ‘processed’, compliance with POPIA is required. It is likely to be applicable to 99,9% of businesses: book shops, restaurants, hairdressers, furniture shops, online sales platforms, consulting services, accounting services, second-hand goods shops, attorney firms, estate agents, engineering firms, schools, homeowners’ associations, coffee shops, laundromats, training colleges, printing businesses, libraries – it is a long and varied list.
Contact our professionals on 041 363 6044 or info@kaplans.co.za for more information or assistance.
