POPIA: achieve compliance with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act

Usercentrics Consent Management Platform (CMP) enables you to meet evolving POPIA compliance requirements. Build user trust and fuel sustainable revenue growth.

Start free Contact Sales

What is the POPIA?

The Protection of Personal Information Act is South Africa’s key privacy law, which pre-dates the GDPR by several years. It has been in full effect since 2020, with enforcement starting in 2021. POPIA defines data protection principles, user rights, and accountability measures for organizations. Enforcement is managed by the federal Information Regulator.

Common POPIA questions and answers

COMPLIANCE

You must have a legal basis for processing personal data, and only for legitimate, specific, explicit, and clearly communicated purposes.
Consent records must be maintained to demonstrate that legally valid consent has been obtained for all data collection and processing.
User consent must be obtained before processing and must be voluntary, specific, and informed.

risks

What are the consequences of POPIA noncompliance?

POPIA violations can lead to fines up to ZAR 10 million. Fines are based on factors like the type of personal data involved, number of data subjects involved, degree of damage caused, previous offences, and other factors.

Additional penalties can include suspension of processing, prison sentences, and public reputation damage.

Benefits of a consent management platform

Obtain user consent correctly

Achieve and maintain compliance in all regions and industries where you do business, including Brazil’s LGPD, California’s CCPA, and frameworks like the IAB TCF v2.2.

Seamless integration

Easily integrate Usercentrics CMP with your website, app, or other platforms. Supports popular CMS and other third-party services to help drive your Privacy-Led Marketing.

Build user trust

Be transparent with users about how you use data and give them control. It’s not just a legal requirement. It’s a competitive differentiator that grows engagement and long-term customer relationships.

Increase consent rates

Benefit from our special marketing features, like A/B Testing and Contextual Consent, to improve user experiences and build relationships with your brand.

How to install Usercentrics

The Usercentrics Consent Management Platform (CMP) collects, manages, and stores valid user consent and privacy preferences.

Configure your CMP

Choose your legal framework and/or relevant data privacy regulations.
Identify the Data Processing Services used on your website and set the correct legal basis.
Customize the banner appearance and messaging to meet your needs.

Implement your CMP

Add the CMP script tag to your website’s code directly, or by using Google Tag Manager. For mobile apps, use our SDK.
Make adjustments to the scripts/tags being used on your website.
Determine when and at what frequency your banner message will be displayed.

Collect explicit user consent

Start collecting consent from all consumers subject to the DMA.
Start collecting valid consent from all visitors under DMA jurisdiction.
Continuously optimize your consent banner based on extensive data and analytics.

“It’s super easy to use with an intuitive dashboard. You can customise the CMP with just a few clicks. A/B testing is easily setup. Legal texts are up to date which saved me a lot of time. ”

Tilman Pfeiffer

— International Expansion Small-Business

Contact our privacy experts

We’re here to answer your questions about data privacy, POPIA requirements, and compliant marketing. The Usercentrics Consent Management Platform helps you build trust, enhance user experience, and reduce regulatory risk. Let’s talk about how we can support your compliance goals.

Want to understand how privacy compliance drives user trust and marketing performance?
Unsure whether your business meets South Africa’s privacy requirements?
Need guidance on your company’s specific compliance obligations?
Looking to parner with us?

Contact sales