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The POPI Act aims to encourage the protection of personal information that is processed by both public and private bodies. To do this, the Act will introduce certain conditions that will establish the minimum requirements that businesses must comply with when processing personal information.
Understanding the POPI Act: 10 FAQs answered
QUESTION 3: What counts as ‘personal information’? In terms of the Act, personal information is data that can be used to identify a person. It is defined as “information relating to an identifiable, living, natural person, and where it is applicable, an identifiable, existing juristic person.”
This information about a person includes, but is not limited to: Race Gender Sex Pregnancy Marital status National / ethnic / social origin Colour Sexual orientation Age Physical or mental health Disability Religion / beliefs / culture Language Educational / medical / financial / criminal or employment history ID number Email address Physical address Telephone number Location Biometric information Personal opinions, views or preferences