News
| CPA & POPI: Useful Online Articles, Read's and Resources |
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Thursday, 3rd March 2011
Find the actual CPA and POPI documents:
Download the Plain Language Explanation of the CPA: Click here
Download the POPI Bill: Click here
Default Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to be placed on your website by FGX Studios:
Click here for the default Terms of Use and Privacy Policy to be placed on your website. Please read carefully and take note of the fact that these legal documents protect FGX Studios with regards to information placed on the website and any data collected from the site visitor. As the laws are not yet finalised, these documents should be considered as"DRAFT" only and will be revised as required. If you require additional Policies to be added onto your website related specifically to your business goods and products, these should be drafted by your legal department and addition of these will be quoted separately. It is highly recommended that you have a legal representative OK the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy that FGx Studios is placing on your website as well.
CPA - Need for well planned communications via email and SMS:
The Consumer Protection Act comes into full force from 1 April 2011. Email newsletters and SMS communications will need to be very carefully worded by marketing departments now that the CPA and POPI twins will be meeting up with their long-lost triplet - the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act (ECT).
Online, careful consideration will have to be given on all wording and dynamics of marketing, promotions, competitions, direct sales and advertising via emails, phone calls, sms and mms messages. Your messages and information need to be kept accurate, transparent and accessible without violating your consumers’ right to privacy and choice. And it's not a Freddie Kruger urban legend. The intention is to promote fair marketing and communication to every South African.
No more "SPEND AND WIN" type wording that implies a guarantee of prize for completing an action, ESPECIALLY when the entrant is required to SPEND MONEY in order to qualify. And the word on the street is that they WILL be WATCHING. The national consumer commission will establish a registry for consumers to block themselves from marketing communications and the commission will also monitor the airwaves and online flow for compliance with the act, especially related to competitions. Penalties and legal cases are an absolute reality.
Protection of Personal Information Bill (POPI)
POPI Bill could render your database worthless...
“Today marketers are making use of email marketing and sending SMS's about new offers, specials, discounts and so on. There is no doubt that a database can be one of the most valuable marketing assets for a business. All this will change dramatically with the introduction of the POPI Bill" … read more
The POPI Bill has been passed in August 2010 and is presumably becoming law in the first half of 2011.
A core concept of POPI relates to the definition of "processing" personal information. Processing includes collection, receipt, recording, organisation, collation, storage, updating, modification, retrieval, alteration, use, dissemination and merging.
Marketing communications to someone already in your database may only be sent if you have given the opportunity to opt-out of such further communications at the time when the person's personal information was first obtained. This is very difficult to prove, especially concerning hand written subscriptions or entry forms which have been discarded since their digital capture.
Moving forward, it will only be legal to send out direct marketing communications via email or SMS to individuals who have given express consent (opt in) and opt out systems and instructions should be clear on all outgoing communications.
Marketing communications may only be for the purpose outlined at the time of opt-in, ie. to promote similar products or services or events or promotional information by the very same Client.
Anyone in your database has the right to demand proof of how you obtained their information and their explicit Opt-in consent.
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