Middle East and Africa

POPIA

Protection of Personal Information Act

South Africa’s data protection law, structured around eight conditions for lawful processing. POPIA has no cookie-specific rule, so cookies that collect personal information need a lawful justification like any other processing. Consent is one such justification, and it must be voluntary, specific and informed. It is enforced by the Information Regulator.

At a glance

Opt-in

Region
South Africa
Status
Fully enforceable since July 2021
Penalties
Administrative fines up to ZAR 10 million per offence, plus criminal penalties of up to ten years’ imprisonment for the most serious offences.
Who it affects
Any public or private body domiciled in South Africa, and any body based elsewhere that uses automated or non-automated means in South Africa to process personal information, unless those means only pass the data through South Africa.

What POPIA requires

  • Have a lawful justification, such as consent, a contract, a legal duty or a legitimate interest, before processing personal information.
  • Take reasonable steps to make sure people know what you collect, why, and who will receive it, when you collect their information.
  • Allow data subjects to access, correct and delete their information.
  • Implement reasonable technical and organisational security measures.
  • Notify the Information Regulator and affected users of security compromises.
  • Register your Information Officer, by default the head of the organisation, with the Information Regulator.
The banner’s first layer: a short notice, Necessary, Analytics and Marketing switches, and Reject all beside Accept all

What the banner does here

The same opt-in mode as in the EU and UK: non-essential cookies are blocked until the visitor chooses, with Reject all beside Accept all at the same size, and no pre-ticked boxes.

How GrantCookie covers it

  • Scheduled scans. The scanner finds the cookies and trackers your site sets, sorts them into categories and re-checks on every scheduled scan, so the banner asks about what is really there.
  • Provable records. Every choice is timestamped and stored with the banner version the visitor saw. Paid plans include consent log export.
  • Withdrawing consent. A re-open control stays on every page, so visitors can withdraw or change their choice at any time.
The consent log: each row has a timestamp in UTC, a consent ID and the visitor’s choice

This page is general guidance. It is not legal advice. Check your specific obligations with a qualified adviser.

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