A Privacy Perspective on the Cybercrimes Act, 2020

In keeping with the significant developments over the last 12 months in respect of data privacy legislation, the President signed the Cybercrimes Act, 2020 into law on 2 June 2021.

The actual commencement date is yet to be proclaimed by the President, and will appear in the Government Gazette sometime in the future. As many South African organisations are in the process of maturing their privacy programmes in anticipation of the Protection of Personal Information Act’s (POPIA) imminent commencement date on 1 July 2021, it is important to identify key principles from the Cybercrimes Act to consider in your privacy programme, as in certain instances, POPIA has been incorporated into the Cybercrimes Act.