The POPI Act / Sections / Section 98
Section 98
Consideration of appeal
Chapter 10 · Enforcement · Part D, Enforcement Notices & Appeals
(1) If in an appeal under section 97 the court considers— (a) that the notice or decision against which the appeal is brought is not in accordance with the law; or (b) that the notice or decision involved an exercise of discretion by the Regulator that ought to have been exercised differently, the court must allow the appeal and may set aside the notice or substitute such other notice or decision as should have been served or made by the Regulator.
(2) In such an appeal, the court may review any determination of fact on which the notice in question was based.
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
- The court can only allow an appeal on two grounds: the notice wasn't in accordance with the law, or the Regulator's discretion ought to have been exercised differently (subsection (1)), this isn't a full re-hearing of the merits, so an appeal strategy needs to target one of these two specific defects.
- Subsection (2) does let the court review the Regulator's factual findings, not just its legal reasoning, which broadens what a well-prepared appeal can challenge.
Relevant tool
PopiGuard's documented compliance history is the kind of evidentiary record that strengthens either ground of a s.98 appeal, should it ever come to that.