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Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013)

Chapter 5 : Supervision

Part A : Information Regulator

44. Regulator to have regard to certain matters

 

 

(1) In the performance of its functions, and the exercise of its powers, under this Act the Regulator must—
(a) have due regard to the conditions for the lawful processing of personal information as referred to in Chapter 3;
(b) have due regard for the protection of all human rights and social interests that compete with privacy, including the general desirability of a free flow of information and the recognition of the legitimate interests of public and private bodies in achieving their objectives in an efficient way;
(c) take account of international obligations accepted by South Africa; and
(d) consider any developing general international guidelines relevant to the better protection of individual privacy.

 

(2) In performing its functions in terms of section 40(1)(b)(ix)(bb) with regard to information matching programmes, the Regulator must have particular regard to whether or not the—
(a) objective of the programme relates to a matter of significant public importance;
(b) use of the programme to achieve that objective will result in monetary savings that are both significant and quantifiable or in other comparable benefits to society;
(c) use of an alternative means of achieving that objective would give either of the results referred to in paragraph (b);
(d) public interest in allowing the programme to proceed outweighs the public interest in adhering to the conditions for the lawful processing of personal information that the programme would otherwise contravene; and
(e) programme involves information matching on a scale that is excessive, having regard to—
(i) the number of responsible parties or operators that will be involved in the programme; and
(ii) the amount of detail about a data subject that will be matched under the programme.

 

(3) In determining whether the processing of personal information for exclusively journalistic purposes by a responsible party who is, by virtue of office, employment or profession, not subject to a code of ethics as referred to in section 7(1), constitutes an interference with the protection of the personal information of the data subject in terms of section 73, the Regulator must have particular regard to the factors referred to in section 7(3)(a) to (d).