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. The Act also is aimed at providing rights to people when it comes to unsolicited electronic communications.

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: