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The algorithm will see you now: Competition Regulators turn to AI to catch bid-riggers
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory, and Boitumelo Khwene, Candidate Attorney For decades, the detection of cartels has been heavily reliant on a familiar [...]
When discovery meets data privacy: Navigating the tension between litigation obligations and data protection
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory, and Armand Swart, Director Introduction The civil litigation process demands disclosure: Parties are expected to lay their cards [...]
Invisible data collection through a privacy lens
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory More than seven million pairs of Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses were sold worldwide in 2025. That figure alone [...]
Cybercrime across borders: Navigating Africa’s fragmented legislative landscape – Part 2
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory, and Boitumelo Khwene, Candidate Attorney In Part one of this series, we detailed the disparity amongst the African [...]
Cybercrime across borders: Navigating Africa’s fragmented legislative landscape – Part 1
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory, and Boitumelo Khwene, Candidate Attorney The Compliance Imperative By the time you reach the end of this sentence, [...]
When the clock starts ticking…… Why cross-border data breach response demands more than good intentions
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory, and Tebogo Sibidla, Director Picture this... A retailer with operations spanning southern and eastern Africa discovers on a [...]
The Regulator is Watching: New Enforcement Signals for POPIA and PAIA Compliance
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory, Armand Swart, Director and Hlonelwa Lutuli, Associate. The Information Regulator (Regulator) has put down a marker. In a [...]
South Africa’s crypto crackdown: Draft Manual brings cross-border crypto asset transactions under exchange control
by Natalie Scott, Director and Head of Sustainability The South African Reserve Bank ("SARB") and National Treasury published the draft Crypto Asset Manual for Cross-Border Activities [...]
Mind the Conduct: A Guide to COFI – Part 6: COFI – What Really Changes?
by Hilah Laskov, Director Introduction In this article series, we take a deep dive into the South African Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill – a [...]
Mind the Conduct: A Guide to COFI – Part 5: Governance and Accountability
by Hilah Laskov, Director Introduction In this article series, we take a deep dive into the South African Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill – a [...]
When a misdirected email becomes a data breach: The Information Regulator issues an enforcement notice on internal and accidental security compromises
by Armand Swart, Director, Hlonelwa Lutuli, Associate and Isabella Keeves, Candidate Attorney On 22 May 2026, South Africa’s Information Regulator served an enforcement notice on the [...]
Renting out your home? The Consumer Protection Act does not apply to you says Supreme Court of Appeal
by Armand Swart, Director In the judgment of Els v Venter and Another (449/2024) [2025] ZASCA 163 (27 October 2025), the Supreme Court of Appeal ("SCA") [...]
Mind the Conduct: A Guide to COFI – Part 4: Principles and Conduct Requirements
by Hilah Laskov, Director Introduction In this article series, we take a deep dive into the South African Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill - a [...]
Leave to Appeal Refused, but Questions Remain: The Matric Results Privacy Dispute and the Meaning of Personal Information under POPIA
by: Armand Swart, Director and Isabella Keeves, Candidate Attorney On 3 June 2026, the Gauteng High Court refused the Information Regulator's application for leave to appeal [...]
Mind the Conduct: A Guide to COFI – Part 3: Consumer Protection and Transparency
by Hilah Laskov, Director Introduction In this article series, we take a deep dive into the South African Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill - a [...]
Mind the Conduct: A Guide to COFI – Part 2: Licensing
by Hilah Laskov, Director Introduction In this article series, we take a deep dive into the South African Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill - a [...]
Mind the Conduct: A Guide to COFI – Part 1: Purpose and Application
by Hilah Laskov, Director In this article series, we take a deep dive into the South African Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill — a major [...]
Your customer consented to direct marketing – but can you still contact them after they have registered on the National Opt-Out Registry?
by Tebogo Sibidla, Director Many businesses assume that once a customer has consented to direct marketing, they may continue contacting that customer unless the consent is [...]
Do not call me I’ll call you …… South Africa’s 2026 CPA Amendment Regulations: operationalising the national opt‑out regime for direct marketing and shifting day‑to‑day anti‑spam responsibility to the National Consumer Commission
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory The Consumer Protection Act Amendment Regulations, 2026 deliver the long‑awaited operational framework for South Africa’s statutory opt‑out regime [...]
The AI Governance Stack and South Africa’s Draft National AI Policy: An Operational Gap in Search of a Framework
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory Author's Note I am presently reading Noah M Kenney's Governing Intelligence: Law, Privacy, Security, and Compliance,[1] and it [...]
Speak now or forever hold your peace. The draft AI policy has been published and parties have 60 days to comment
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory On 10 April 2026, South Africa's Department of Communications and Digital Technologies published its Draft National Artificial Intelligence [...]
Cracking Down or Catching Up? South Africa’s Approach to Crypto Regulation: Part 4 – Exchange Control Update
by Deon Griessel, Director, Armand Swart, Director, Hlonelwa Lutuli, Associate and Khanyisa Tshoba, Associate In our previous article published on 28 October 2025, we identified the [...]
NCR Throws a Lifeline to Consumers Required to Pay Premiums for Mandatory Credit Life Insurance
by Dylan Cunard, Director and Brendan Olivier, Director In a much-needed victory for hard-pressed consumers, the National Credit Regulator ("NCR") has recently published a non-binding opinion [...]
CCTV Footage: What the Information Regulator’s Draft Code Means for Surveillance Governance
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory We are rapidly entering the age of no privacy, where everyone is open to surveillance at all times; where there [...]
Part 2: The “One-Shot” Pre-Merger Consultation in South Africa. Preparation, Risk, and the Question no-one is asking
by Ahmore Burger-Smidt, Director and Head of Regulatory Confidentiality and gun-jumping - the tension at the heart of the process The one-shot design of the pre-merger [...]
