1. For ease of reference on our paradigm, we attach our letter dated 27 November 1997, addressed to the Office of the Deputy President and refer you specifically to clause 1 thereof, where it states that the Edgars Group of Companies has a base in excess of 3,6 million customer account holders. Edgars Group relies heavily on these account holders for a substantial portion of merchandise sales. We use the postal services to communicate with these customers on a regular basis inter alia : to send them monthly statements to inform them of any promotions, sales or general informant which is relevant to them.
2. In principle we commend the essence of this Bill and agree that the privacy rights of individuals be ensconced by the Constitution and otherwise.
3. However the concomitant relationship between the well being of individuals and business (as the employers of those individuals) must never be forgotten.
4. We thank and encourage the National Council of Provinces and the National Assembly to continue to build positively on the progress made to date and not to revert to unrealistic privacy measures.
5. We accept and commit ourselves in principle to the rights of individuals to object to the use of disclosure of their personal information to third parties unless they have consented to such use or disclosure, but must in this regard stress the enormous administration and cost burden on ourselves if Section 58 intends to regulate the exact manner (i.e. "prescribed form" and "prescribed manner") that such consented use, disclosure or denial thereof must be embodied in.
6. It is our further concern that the very essence of the Bill which is to ensure transparency of government and business now refers many issues to regulations, with no requirement to consult private sector bodies that will be directly impacted by the Regulation. In this regard we strongly urge that the need to consult and communicate with those private bodies in the drafting of the Regulations must not be omitted.