Last updated: 1 May 2025
POPIA Compliance Statement
SEAM Agency (Pty) Ltd is committed to complying with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 ("POPIA"). This statement explains how we process personal information responsibly and in accordance with the eight conditions for lawful processing set out in POPIA.
SEAM is a South African platform. We take your privacy rights under POPIA seriously and have implemented policies and procedures to ensure compliance across all aspects of data collection, processing, and storage.
1. Our Role as Responsible Party
SEAM Agency (Pty) Ltd acts as the Responsible Party as defined in POPIA. This means we determine the purpose and means of processing personal information collected through theSEAM platform.
Our designated contact for POPIA-related queries is reachable at: support@seamagency.co.za
2. The Eight POPIA Conditions We Comply With
1.Accountability
We take responsibility for ensuring that POPIA compliance measures are in place across all data processing activities. Our team is trained on data protection obligations.
2.Processing Limitation
We only collect personal information that is necessary, adequate, and relevant to the purpose for which it is collected. We do not process information in a manner that is incompatible with that purpose.
3.Purpose Specification
We clearly specify the purpose for collecting your information at the time of collection. Personal information is not retained longer than necessary to fulfil that purpose, or as required by law.
4.Further Processing Limitation
We do not use personal information for secondary purposes that are incompatible with the original purpose for which it was collected, unless we have your consent or there is a legal basis to do so.
5.Information Quality
We take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold is accurate, complete, and up to date. Users may update their profile information at any time via their SEAM account.
6.Openness
We are transparent about our data processing practices. This POPIA statement, together with our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions, constitutes our notification to you as a data subject.
7.Security Safeguards
We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, damage, unauthorised access, disclosure, and misuse. This includes encrypted data transmission (HTTPS), access controls, and secure credential management.
8.Data Subject Participation
You have the right to access and correct your personal information. You may also request its deletion. We will respond to such requests within a reasonable time frame as required by POPIA.
3. Special Categories of Personal Information
POPIA provides additional protection for special personal information. SEAM collects the following special information categories and applies heightened care to their processing:
- Profile approval information — approval status, reviewer decisions and change requests relating to profile information you have already supplied. SEAM does not require a selfie for profile approval.
- Financial information — subscription payment references are stored for billing records. Full card details are handled exclusively by PayFast and never stored on SEAM servers.
We do not collect race, ethnicity, health, religious belief, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or criminal record data as part of the standard SEAM platform experience.
4. Consent
Where POPIA requires consent as the lawful basis for processing, we obtain explicit, informed consent before collecting and processing your data. You may withdraw consent at any time by:
- Updating your profile visibility or account settings.
- Requesting deletion of your account via Settings → Danger Zone.
- Contacting us at support@seamagency.co.za with a specific withdrawal request.
Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before the withdrawal.
5. Cross-Border Transfers
Some of our technical service providers (cloud infrastructure, email delivery, analytics) may be located outside of South Africa. Where personal information is transferred cross-border, we take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient applies adequate data protection measures consistent with POPIA.
6. Data Breach Response
In the event of a security compromise that is likely to adversely affect your personal information, SEAM will notify you and the Information Regulator as soon as reasonably practicable, in accordance with section 22 of POPIA.
7. Your Rights Under POPIA
As a data subject, you have the right to:
- Be informed when your personal information is collected.
- Access personal information we hold about you (Section 23 of POPIA).
- Request correction or deletion of your personal information (Section 24).
- Object to the processing of your personal information (Section 11(3)).
- Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa.
Information Regulator of South Africa
Website: inforegulator.org.za
Email: inforeg@justice.gov.za
8. PAIA Manual
In terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), we are required to compile and publish a PAIA manual. If you require access to a copy of our PAIA manual, please contact us at support@seamagency.co.za.
9. Contact Our Privacy Office
For any POPIA-related queries, access requests, or complaints, please contact us:
SEAM Agency (Pty) Ltd
Email: support@seamagency.co.za
Subject line: POPIA Request
We aim to respond to all POPIA-related requests within 30 days.