South Africa Drafts Regulations To Enhance Data Protection
South Africa’s Information Regulator recently circulated draft regulations on processing health and sex life data under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). The draft regulations emphasize heightened protection for sensitive personal information, particularly concerning health and sexual matters.
These regulations aim to enhance accountability among responsible parties by introducing:
- Specific consent requirements
- A structured assessment process for legitimate interests
- Mandatory regulatory oversight
In contrast, existing privacy laws often provide broader frameworks without such detailed stipulations for sensitive data types.
Applicable to listed responsible parties processing personal information regarding the data subjects’ health or sex life for circumscribed activities, the proposed regulations govern, inter alia, the provision of consent, cross-border transfers of information, retention of records, and destruction of information.
Health information is defined as personal information or an opinion relating to the physical and mental health of a data subject, including:
- The provision of healthcare services and/or
- Any testing, treatment, and diagnosis that reveals information about his/her health status, and
- The decision of such a person regarding any illness, disability, or injury
Sex life information is defined as any information that may reveal a data subject’s gender identity, sexual orientation, or sex.
It is intended that the draft regulations will apply to the following responsible parties:
- Insurance companies
- Medical schemes
- Medical scheme administrators
- Managed healthcare organizations
- Administrative bodies
- Pension funds
- Employers
- Operators of administrative bodies, pension funds, and employers
Not all draft regulations will apply equally to all the listed responsible parties.
Read Tennant’s full article for more details.
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