South African Accreditation Authority

The office of the South African Accreditation Authority is established in terms of Chapter VI, Part 1 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002. The Authority is responsible for the accreditation of authentication and certification products and services used in support of electronic signatures and monitoring of the activities of authentication and certification service providers whose products or services have been accredited by the South African Accreditation Authority within the Republic of South Africa.

The Director general of the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies is appointed as Accredit Authority in terms of the ECT Act, and may appoint Deputy South African Accreditation Authorities and officers from the employees of the Department after consultation with the Minister.

The main object of the ECT Act is to enable and facilitate electronic communications and transactions in the public interest (Section 2(1)).