Abstract

SWALES, Lee; THALDAR, Donrich  and  DONNELLY, Dusty-Lee. Why research institutions should indemnify researchers against POPIA civil liability. S. Afr. j. sci. [online]. 2022, vol.118, n.3-4, pp.1-3. ISSN 1996-7489.  https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2022/13205.

SIGNIFICANCE: In the research context, a 'responsible party' as contemplated in terms of POPIA is typically the research institution as well as the individual researcher involved. Given the potential civil liability that individual researchers could face, we suggest that the Code of Conduct for Research should place a duty on research institutions to indemnify their researchers from civil liability. While this measure will limit individual researchers' personal financial risk in the extra-institutional legal sphere, it will in no way shield individual researchers from intra-institutional accountability and disciplinary action. Accordingly, we suggest that this measure strikes a fair balance.

Keywords : Code of Conduct for Research; indemnification; liability; POPIA; responsible party.

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