Research hub / South Africa
§ Dossier · SOUTHERN AFRICA · updated 22 July 2026

South Africa

Regulator
Information Regulator ↗
Law
Protection of Personal Information Act 2013 (POPIA; fully effective 1 July 2021) ↗
Status
Live in the tracker
Authority
Information Regulator, established 2016
17
published decisions tracked
Information Regulator: 14 · FSCA: 3
USD 19,494,000
penalties (USD approx.)
median USD 265,000 · mean USD 3,898,800 · 5 fines
ZAR 358,750,000
largest penalty
Stephanus Johannes Stehan Grobler (former director, Steinhoff International Holdings)
USD 265,000
median penalty (USD approx.)
across 5 penalties
2026-04
latest decision
data updated 22 July 2026

The law

Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) IN FORCE

commenced 2021-07-01 (full effect; commenced 2020-07-01 with one-year grace) · Official full text ↗

Scope
Processing of personal information entered in a record by or for a responsible party domiciled in South Africa, or using means in South Africa.
Key obligations
Eight conditions for lawful processing (ss.8-25); Information Officer registration with the Regulator; Prior authorisation for certain processing (ss.57-58); Direct marketing opt-in regime (s.69)
DPO required
Information Officer (statutory default: head of the body) plus deputies; registration required.
Registration
Information Officer registration; no general controller registration.
Cross-border transfers
s.72: transfers only with adequate protection (law/binding rules/agreement), consent, contract necessity, or subject benefit.
Breach notification
s.22: notify Regulator and data subjects as soon as reasonably possible after discovery of compromise.
Penalties
Administrative fines up to ZAR 10,000,000; criminal offences up to 10 years' imprisonment for certain violations.
Authority
Information Regulator (also administers PAIA 2000)

Verified 2026-07-06

Access to information

Promotion of Access to Information Act 2000 (PAIA) IN FORCE

The regulator

Authority
Information Regulator
Website
https://inforegulator.org.za ↗
Established
2016
Operational
Yes
Enforcing
Yes
Publishes decisions
Yes · publication venue ↗

Enforcement record

Decision types: Enforcement notice · 11 · Penalty notice · 5 · Investigation · 1

01Filter or search the decisions below
02Click a result to preview its summary
03Open the full record for citation and sources

Related reading

Analysis is at lawlab.africa/analysis; method, inclusion rules and the correction policy are on the methodology page.


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