Action on receipt of complaint
(1) On receiving a complaint in terms of section 74, the Regulator may— (a) conduct a pre-investigation as referred to in section 79; (b) act, at any time during the investigation and where appropriate, as conciliator in relation to any interference with the protection of the personal information of a data subject in the prescribed manner; (c) decide, in accordance with section 77, to take no action on the complaint or, as the case may be, require no further action in respect of the complaint; (d) conduct a full investigation of the complaint; (e) refer the complaint, in terms of section 92, to the Enforcement Committee; or (f) take such further action as is contemplated by this Chapter.
(2) The Regulator must, as soon as is reasonably practicable, advise the complainant and the responsible party to whom the complaint relates of the course of action that the Regulator proposes to adopt under subsection (1).
(3) The Regulator may, on its own initiative, commence an investigation into the interference with the protection of the personal information of a data subject as referred to in section 73.
What this means for your estate
- On receiving a complaint, the Regulator has six possible paths under subsection (1), from pre-investigation and conciliation through to a full investigation or referral to the Enforcement Committee, and subsection (2) requires it to tell both the complainant and your estate which path it's taking.
- Subsection (3) means the Regulator doesn't need a complaint at all to start looking at your estate, it can commence an investigation on its own initiative.
PopiGuard's Task Manager keeps your compliance evidence organised, so whichever path the Regulator chooses under s.76(1), your estate isn't starting from a blank file.