After almost ten years of knocking around Parliament, a Bill seeking to protect personal information is finally set to become law, and companies will have only a year to get their houses in order.

The Protection of Personal Information Bill (POPI), first mooted back in 2005, is South Africa’s first consolidated piece of legislation detailing how companies must deal with people’s – and entities’ – information. After finally being passed by the National Assembly in August, it now just has to be translated into Afrikaans and signed off by President Jacob Zuma.