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No. 37067

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 26 November 2013

Act No. 4 of 2013

Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013

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(v) photograph, film, negative, tape or other device in which one or more
visual images are embodied so as to be capable, with or without the aid
of some other equipment, of being reproduced;
(b) in the possession or under the control of a responsible party;
(c) whether or not it was created by a responsible party; and
(d) regardless of when it came into existence;
‘‘Regulator’’ means the Information Regulator established in terms of section 39;
‘‘re-identify’’, in relation to personal information of a data subject, means to
resurrect any information that has been de-identified, that—
(a) identifies the data subject;
(b) can be used or manipulated by a reasonably foreseeable method to identify the
data subject; or
(c) can be linked by a reasonably foreseeable method to other information that
identifies the data subject,
and ‘‘re-identified’’ has a corresponding meaning;
‘‘Republic’’ means the Republic of South Africa;
‘‘responsible party’’ means a public or private body or any other person which,
alone or in conjunction with others, determines the purpose of and means for
processing personal information;
‘‘restriction’’ means to withhold from circulation, use or publication any personal
information that forms part of a filing system, but not to delete or destroy such
information;
‘‘special personal information’’ means personal information as referred to in
section 26;
‘‘this Act’’ includes any regulation or code of conduct made under this Act; and
‘‘unique identifier’’ means any identifier that is assigned to a data subject and is
used by a responsible party for the purposes of the operations of that responsible
party and that uniquely identifies that data subject in relation to that responsible
party.
Purpose of Act

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2. The purpose of this Act is to—
(a) give effect to the constitutional right to privacy, by safeguarding personal
information when processed by a responsible party, subject to justifiable
limitations that are aimed at—
(i) balancing the right to privacy against other rights, particularly the right 35
of access to information; and
(ii) protecting important interests, including the free flow of information
within the Republic and across international borders;
(b) regulate the manner in which personal information may be processed, by
establishing conditions, in harmony with international standards, that 40
prescribe the minimum threshold requirements for the lawful processing of
personal information;
(c) provide persons with rights and remedies to protect their personal information
from processing that is not in accordance with this Act; and
(d) establish voluntary and compulsory measures, including the establishment of 45
an Information Regulator, to ensure respect for and to promote, enforce and
fulfil the rights protected by this Act.
CHAPTER 2
APPLICATION PROVISIONS
Application and interpretation of Act
3. (1) This Act applies to the processing of personal information—

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Select target paragraph3