The Residential Communities Council (RCC) is looking to amend its code of conduct regarding how personal information is handled in South Africa.

The RCC is the representative body for the Residential Community Industry, which encompasses estates, complexes, gated communities, homeowners associations (HOAs) and others.

The new proposed code of conduct from the Residential Communities Council (RCC Code) was published by the Information Regulator on 8 September 2023, as the regulator has to give notice when it is considering issuing a code of conduct as per section 61(2) of the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).

According to Peter Grealy, Wendy Tembedza, Karl Blom, Prineil Padayachy and Sanelisiwe Mthalane from Webber Wentzel, the new RCC code will, among other things, introduce the following:

• promote appropriate practices by members of the RCC when processing personal information;

• establish procedures for the submission, consideration and resolution of complaints against the RCC or its members;

• lay down guidelines for the lawful processing of personal information by various stakeholders in the residential community industry; and

• provide guidelines to establish a complaints handling process by RCC members.

The new Code of Conduct will apply to all RCC members as it is a compulsory requirement of being a member of the RCC.

It will also apply to third parties who have entered into agreements with an RCC member to process personal information

Members who do not follow the new RCC code may, at the discretion of the RCC, have their membership reviewed by an assessor or independent adjudicator appointed by the RCC.

Broadly, the code of conduct aims to set HOAs up as the accountable parties when dealing with the private information of residents. It also aims to put limitations on the gathering and processing of private information in line with the POPI Act.

The code is pertinent given that estates and gated communities often collect a lot of personal information on owners, residents and visitors, including biometric data. Thus it is critical that this private data be obtained with consent, and retained within the limits of the POPI Act.

The RCC Code is currently open for public comments until Friday, 22 September 2023. All comments must be sent to the Information Regulator at [email protected].

The new RCC Code can be found below (mobile users can click on this hyperlink).

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