South Africa

AIDA South Africa 

The South African National Chapter of AIDA vests within the Unit for Insurance Law and Governance, Department of Mercantile Law, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria.

It is a non-profit organizational unit that aims to engage members from academia and practice in the development of South African insurance law and theory.

It presents regular colloquia and conferences and maintains an ongoing liaison with the insurance; reinsurance, legal, risk management and broking sectors of the national and international insurance industry.

History 

The South African National Chapter of AIDA was initially founded in the 1990s in Pretoria, South Africa where it vested at UNISA (The University of South Africa) until 2008.

In 2009 it transferred to a joint administration under the auspices of the Law faculties of the University of Pretoria and University of Johannesburg until 2017. 

Since 2018 it falls exclusively within the Unit for Insurance Law and Governance, University of Pretoria.

Key objectives  

These include:

• The enhancement of the study of insurance theory and law through the organization of conferences, colloquia and workshops,
• Promoting the importance of insurance law as a higher education subject in undergraduate and postgraduate law studies
• The financial support for postgraduate students pursuing postgraduate studies in insurance law
• The establishment and maintenance of materials on insurance at the Oliver Tambo Law Library, University of Pretoria;
• The publication and distribution of insurance studies on changes in the regulatory system and the law, as well as current and cutting-edge developments in the field, such as insure tech; climate change; block chain management;
• To provide a central office for the circulation of information between members. 

Governance

The Chapter vests within the Unit for Insurance Law and Governance.

The Chapter is made up of non-paying members and functions with the financial and administrative support of the Unit. 

The Chapter has its own constitution and rules and its officers are exclusively drawn from among its own ranks. The officers decide upon and manage the Chapter’s activities, but they report back to the Unit with a representative attending the Board meetings of the Unit.

The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), which is the data privacy law of South Africa , came into force on 1 July 2021.

The law applies to websites, organizations, and all legal entities located in South Africa who process personal information.  

The POPIA requires obtaining the prior consent of end users before any processing of their personal information.

The commencement date is 1 July 2020 and it will be enforced from that date.