This year has indeed been a tumultuous one. With COVID-19, the lockdown, the ban of alcohol and cigarettes, etcetera, it is easy to miss some significant development that occurs in the legal field that affects consumers. An important development has been that the Competition Commission has published draft Guidelines for Competition in the South African Automotive Aftermarket Industry. Industry role-players, the public and anybody with an interest had the opportunity to comment on these draft...

A consumer has certain fundamental rights which are given in terms of the Consumer Protection Act. There are a few of them, but it could be argued that the most important one in our day and age would be the right to equality. Section 8 of the Consumer Protection Act states that a supplier should not: unfairly exclude a consumer from accessing certain goods or services;grant certain consumers exclusive use or supply a different quality or price to certain consumers; or treat a consumer...

Whilst the Protection of Personal Information Act (“POPIA”) was enacted as far back as 2013, its enforcement has largely been “waiting in the wings” until now. On the 1st of July 2020, the majority of the Sections of POPIA have become operational. The implication of this development is that public and private institutions who process personal information within the parameters defined in the POPIA will need to comply with its provisions and will be held accountable for non-compliance....

With the commencement of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI) on the 1st of July 2020, the Information Regulator has developed draft guidelines on the registration of Information Officers. Registration of the Information Officer(s) with the Regulator is compulsory for all private and public bodies within the republic of South Africa, it is further a prerequisite for the Information Officer, to take up their duties in terms of POPI. First things first: What is the role of the...

On the 1st of July 2020, some further sections of the POPI Act came into operation. The practical implication for businesses is that they should be compliant with these further sections by the 30th of June 2021 – SEESA article published on the 14th of July 2020.  Is the POPI Act applicable to your business?  This Act applies to the processing of personal information, therefore any Business and its employees...

The 1st of July 2020, marks the date on which core sections of the [1]Protection of Personal Information Act has officially commenced. With the [2]final regulations published in 2018 and vacancies being filled at the office of The Information Regulator, the one-year grace period will for most organisations be a daunting time working towards POPI compliance. As part of the implementation processes, all organisations are urged to peruse the regulations published by the Information Regulator....