Maryna holds the BA, LLB, LLM degrees and is a Director at the Cape Town branch of STBB. She is an admitted Attorney, Notary Public, Conveyancer and Insolvency Practitioner with many years of experience in the fields of property law, conveyancing and the laws relating to corporate compliance (especially in respect of the FICA and POPIA laws). Up until 2018 she was also head of the firm’s national marketing portfolio. She is a seasoned public speaker and presenter, both in person and online. She prepares text for the majority of STBB’s internal and external publications and is editor and co-writer for two pivotal publications in the South African real estate industry – the ABC of Conveyancing (JUTA) and Delport’s South African Property Law and Practice (JUTA).

Thought of the Week | COMPLYING WITH POPIA IS A BIG BUSINESS WORRY ONLY

We regularly consult with business owners who, when considering their compliance responsibilities, react thereto in love-hate terms. On the one hand, there is a positive response where compliance is constructively applied to the business’ own day-to-day running procedures and management. On the other hand, it appears less rosy where it is presented as a must-do red tape exercise, with a threat of financially damaging penalties for non-compliance imposed by government.

Fortunately, compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI or POPIA) is neither of the above and we will illustrate this in our information messages this month by debunking the following myths:

  1. Complying with POPIA is a big business worry only
  2. POPI is an “IT” thing
  3. One-size-fits-all bundles are okay to comply with POPIA
  4. POPI is unnecessary red tape and another way for government to get at businesses

POPI in the most simple terms sets out ways in which businesses must deal with the personal information that they hold. This includes personal details of their employees, as well as the personal details of their customers, clients and service providers, whether the customers and clients are individuals or other businesses/entities.

No matter the size of your business operation, you will hold (i.e., record) details of your customers, employees and third parties that provide services to you, online or on paper. As such you should now commence steps to make sure the information is safeguarded as required by POPIA in order to ensure that you are compliant when the Act becomes enforceable in July 2021. Our Blog post later this week will elaborate on this aspect in detail. Sign up here to receive this blog post series.

Contact us should you have enquiries or need information on complying with POPIA at info@stbb.co.za

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