The POPI Act / Sections / Section 97
Section 97
Right of appeal
Chapter 10 · Enforcement ยท Part D, Enforcement Notices & Appeals
(1) A responsible party on whom an information or enforcement notice has been served may, within 30 days of receiving the notice, appeal to the High Court having jurisdiction for the setting aside or variation of the notice.
(2) A complainant, who has been informed of the result of the investigation in terms of section 77(3) or 96, may, within 180 days of receiving the result, appeal to the High Court having jurisdiction against the result.
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
- Your estate has 30 days from receiving an information or enforcement notice to appeal to the High Court for it to be set aside or varied (subsection (1)), mark this deadline the day a notice arrives, since s.90(3)/s.95(3) both hinge compliance timing on whether this window has passed.
- A complainant separately gets 180 days from being informed of an investigation result to appeal to the High Court (subsection (2)), a closed matter can still be reopened well after the fact from the other side.
Relevant tool
PopiGuard's Task Manager flags the s.97 30-day appeal window the moment a notice is logged, so the decision to contest or comply is never made under last-minute time pressure.