Abstract:
Over the years, the South African and Namibian systems have faced
challenges relating to credit-information dissemination and, in view of the
importance of credit information and credit-information arrangements, it
is necessary to consider, evaluate, and compare the jurisdiction-specific
measures in order to address identified challenges. We analyse and compare
the current frameworks of the two jurisdictions in order to highlight
differences. We discuss the World Bank reports on ‘the Observance of
Standards and Codes’ for South Africa and Namibia and the ‘General
Principles for Credit Reporting’ as general, principled frameworks for the
regulation of consumer-information. This is followed by a comparison of
the South African and Namibian structures as frameworks with specific
structural and substantive features. The discussions focus on the South
African National Credit Act 34 of 2005, the South African Protection of
Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 and the Namibian Credit Bureau
Regulations of 2014. Our aim is to investigate the improvements effected
by the systems, the reasons behind these adaptions and, ultimately, the
lessons that can be learnt from each jurisdiction.
