| GLOBAL VIEW |
POPIA 101 By Wendy Tembedza
Renewed marketing efforts are being exerted by almost all companies in the precast concrete supply chain, so it is important to understand privacy rights and using personal information before mass-mailing or communicating with them. Wit h t he commencement date of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) 4 of 2013 of 1 July 2021 fast approaching, businesses should be reviewing their use of personal information to determine whether it complies with the Act. It is important to understand that any business which has employees, customers and suppliers must comply with POPI when dealing with personal information. Below are a few ways businesses can kickstart their compliance exercise: Identify what personal information you process and why Under POPI, a business must be able to justify why it holds personal information based on one of the several justifications set out in the Act. This is a good opportunity for a business to assess what information it collects (whether from employees, customers, service providers or other
FOR PRECASTERS
“All businesses with employees, customers and suppliers must comply with POPIA, which comes into effect on 1 July 2021.” third parties, such as credit bureaux) and review whether that information is really necessary. In this regard, minimality is key – a business should not collect more personal information than is required. Importantly, the term “personal information” is defined very broadly to mean any information that can be used to identify an individual person or another business entity.
Get rid of what you do not need Under POPI, a business cannot keep a record of personal information once the reason for which it was collected no longer exists, unless required by law. For example, unless legally required, a business should not keep personal information of any former supplier once the relationship has ended. Businesses should therefore check whether they are holding onto any old records of personal information that they no longer need and dispose of them in a secure manner. More data means more risk and it is best to purge what is not required. Look at security Correct management of personal information means that appropriate security must be in place to protect it. POPI requires a business to put in place “appropriate,
24
PRECAST | ISSUE TWO | 2021
