Section 74 of the Protection of Personal Information Act states that any person or juristic person may submit a written complaint to the Information Regulator alleging interference with their personal information. Interference with any person or juristic person’s personal information may refer to a breach in the confidentiality, integrity or availability of their personal information.
Interference with any person or juristic person’s personal information may be caused, amongst other things, by employees, external parties, third-party service providers and computer system errors or vulnerability through human or computer error and/or any malicious activity such as hacking incidents and illegal access to databases.
To submit a complaint to the Information Regulator, one needs to assess whether the interference comprises the following that the Regulator may then, on its initiative, commence an investigation:
- any breach of the conditions for lawful processing;
- a breach of the provisions of a code of conduct;
- non-compliance with the sections pertaining to:
- notification of security compromises;
- direct marketing;
- automated decision making; or
- transborder information flows.
Should any person or juristic person confirm that there was interference of their personal information, such person or juristic person is then required to complete the prescribed POPIA Form 5. Form 5 can be found on the Information Regulator’s website, after which the POPIA Form 5 must be emailed to the POPIA Complaints email address.
On receiving a complaint, the Regulator may decide on the following:
- To conduct a pre-investigation;
- May act as a mediator concerning any interference with the protection of personal information;
- May decide to take no action on the complaint or, as the case may be, require no further action in respect of the complaint; or
- The Regulator may, at its discretion, decide not to take any further action on a complaint if it appears to the Regulator that having regard to all the circumstances of the case, any further action is unnecessary or inappropriate.
Want to know more about lodging complaints to the Information Regulator? Kindly contact your nearest SEESA Consumer Protection & POPI Legal Advisor. Alternatively, leave your contact details on our website, and a SEESA representative will contact you.
About The Author:
Viantha Govender is currently a Consumer Protection & POPI Legal Advisor at the SEESA Durban branch. She obtained her LLB from The University of KwaZulu-Natal, Howard College, in 2019.
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