The POPI Act / Sections / Section 85
Section 85
Matters exempt from search and seizure
Chapter 10 · Enforcement ยท Part B, Investigation & Warrants
If the Regulator has granted an exemption in terms of section 37, the information that is processed in terms of that exemption is not subject to search and seizure empowered by a warrant issued under section 82.
Source: justice.gov.za, Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (official PDF), cross-checked verbatim before publishing.
Beyond the text
What this means for your estate
- If the Regulator has already granted your estate an exemption under s.37 for a particular kind of processing, that specific processing is off-limits to search and seizure under a s.82 warrant, a documented exemption has real protective value beyond just avoiding the underlying obligation.
Relevant tool
PopiGuard's Policy Vault keeps any Regulator exemption your estate holds on record, so its s.85 protection is easy to invoke if it's ever relevant.