Privacy
What we keep, and why.
This notice says what the Books and Publishing Content Developers and Creators Council does with the personal information you give it, in plain language. It is written to meet the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).
Last updated 29 October 2026.
Who is responsible
The responsible party is the Books and Publishing Content Developers and Creators Council, one of the seventeen Cultural and Creative Industries clusters of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. Write to the Council's Information Officer at info@cdccouncil.org.za about anything on this page.
The Council's website and database are built and run on its behalf by MetaCreations, which acts as the Council's operator and may process your information only on the Council's instruction.
What we collect, and why
Only what a given form asks for, and only for the purpose that form serves.
When you
Joining the Council or the register
What we take
Name, email, phone, province, town, organisation, your disciplines, languages, years active, a short biography, links to your work, and a photograph if you upload one.
What it is for
To know who works in the sector, to place you in the right discipline and province, to contact you about Council work, and to list you in the public directory if you asked to be listed.
When you
Registering for an event or workshop
What we take
Name, email, phone, province, town, whether you are a published author, the languages you write in, and anything you tell us about access or dietary needs.
What it is for
To hold your place, to plan the room, to meet an access or dietary need, and to confirm who attended.
When you
Subscribing to Council letters
What we take
Email address, and your name, province and disciplines if you give them.
What it is for
To send you only the letters you chose.
When you
Writing to us, or volunteering
What we take
Name, email, phone and what you wrote.
What it is for
To answer you, and to keep a record of the answer.
You do not have to give the Council anything. Where a field is not marked as required, leaving it out changes nothing except how well the Council can place your work in the sector.
Consent, and taking it back
Where the Council relies on your consent, it keeps the date you gave it and the exact words you agreed to, so that it can show what you were asked. You may withdraw consent at any time: every Council letter carries an unsubscribe link, and one line to info@cdccouncil.org.za is enough for everything else. Withdrawing consent does not undo what was lawfully done before you withdrew it.
Who else sees it
The Council does not sell your information and does not give it to anyone for their own marketing. It is seen by:
- The Council’s own officers and administrators, who sign in to a role that limits what they can reach.
- MetaCreations, as the Council’s operator, for building and running the platform.
- Supabase, which hosts the database, and Vercel, which hosts the website.
- An email delivery service, for sending the letters and confirmations you asked for.
The Council reports on its work to the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture. Those reports carry counts and summaries of what the sector looks like, not the register itself.
Your entry appears in the public directory only if you asked for it to. If you are in the directory and want out, say so and it comes down.
Where it is kept
The database and the website are hosted in Ireland, in the European Union. POPIA section 72 allows information to leave South Africa where the receiving country's law protects it in a substantially similar way: the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation does. Nothing is hosted outside South Africa and the European Union.
How long it is kept
POPIA does not allow the Council to keep your information for longer than it needs it.
Record
Register and member records
Kept for
While you are on the register. Reviewed every year, and removed when you ask or when the Council’s mandate for that work ends.
Record
Event and workshop registrations
Kept for
Three years, because the Council has to be able to show who it reached and when.
Record
Newsletter subscriptions
Kept for
Until you unsubscribe. Your email address is then kept on a do-not-send list only, so that you are not added again by mistake.
Record
Enquiries and the Council’s replies
Kept for
Three years.
Record
Anything the Council is required by law to keep
Kept for
For as long as that law says, whatever this table says.
Photographs
The Council publishes photographs from its events and programmes. If a photograph shows you, or a child in your care, and you would rather it were not published, write to info@cdccouncil.org.za and it will be taken down. Photographs on this site are deliberately kept out of image search results.
Children
The Council's forms are for adults working in the sector and it does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18 through this website. Where the Council works with learners, it does so through their school, and a parent or guardian is asked first.
Keeping it safe
Signing in needs a password. What each person can see is set by their role, and the Council's records are closed to the public side of the website at the database itself, not merely hidden from the page. Identity numbers and banking details are never readable by the public website.
No system is beyond compromise. If your information is ever accessed by somebody who should not have it, POPIA section 22 requires the Council to tell you and the Information Regulator, and it will.
Your rights
Under POPIA you may:
- Ask what the Council holds about you, and be given a copy.
- Have anything wrong corrected, or anything unnecessary deleted.
- Object to the Council using your information, and withdraw a consent you gave.
- Ask that your entry be taken out of the public directory.
- Complain to the Information Regulator if the Council gets it wrong.
Write to info@cdccouncil.org.za. The Council will answer within 30 days. Asking costs nothing, although a formal request for a copy of your records under the Promotion of Access to Information Act may carry the fee that Act prescribes.
The Information Regulator
If you are not satisfied with the Council's answer, you may take it to the Information Regulator of South Africa.
Complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
Telephone: 010 023 5200
inforegulator.org.za
Changes to this notice
When this notice changes, the date at the top changes with it. If a change affects why the Council uses your information, you will be told before it takes effect.