SmartAlex South African Consumer Protection Act Notice

Version 1.0 · Effective July 7, 2026 · THERCSGROUP PTE. LTD. (trading as SmartAlex, Singapore Reg. No. 202543608D)

1. Purpose and scope

This South African Consumer Protection Act Notice (the "Notice") explains how THERCSGROUP PTE. LTD., trading as SmartAlex ("SmartAlex", "we", "us", or "our"), addresses the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 ("CPA") when the SmartAlex platform, websites, applications, and APIs (the "Services") are used to market, promote, or sell goods and services to consumers in the Republic of South Africa, in particular through consumer-facing outbound voice contact made by an automated voice agent.

It supplements our Privacy Policy, our POPIA Notice, our Electronic Communications Notice, our Telephony and Call Recording Notice, and our Acceptable Use Policy. Those documents own the data-protection, recording-consent, and electronic-contracting detail. This Notice deals only with the consumer-protection question: what the CPA requires of a business that markets and sells to consumers through the Services, and how the Services are designed to help. Where there is a conflict between this Notice and any of those documents on a South African consumer-protection question, the more specific provision in this Notice applies. Where there is a conflict between this Notice and the negotiated agreement between SmartAlex and a Customer, that agreement prevails as between SmartAlex and the Customer.

This Notice is a statement of how SmartAlex approaches the CPA. It is not legal advice, and it does not create a contract or vary any agreement between you and us. A Customer that uses the Services to market or sell in South Africa remains responsible for its own compliance and should take its own advice on how the CPA applies to its business.

Who carries the duties, and who provides the tooling. The CPA places its obligations on the "supplier", being the person who markets, promotes, or sells goods and services to consumers in the ordinary course of business. When the Services are used to market or sell to a consumer, the Customer is the supplier. It decides what is offered, at what price, on what terms, and to whom, and it directs the marketing and the selling. The Customer therefore carries the CPA duties described in this Notice. SmartAlex provides the platform and the tooling that a supplier uses to conduct that marketing and selling, including the voice agent, the disclosure and confirmation steps, the calling-hour controls, and the opt-out handling. SmartAlex is not the supplier of the Customer's goods or services and does not market or sell them. This division holds throughout the Notice.

2. Definitions

The following defined terms are used in this Notice. Terms defined in our Privacy Policy, our POPIA Notice, or our Electronic Communications Notice carry the meaning given there unless stated otherwise.

3. Honest dealing and no misrepresentation

3.1 No unconscionable conduct or undue pressure (section 40)

The CPA prohibits unconscionable conduct by a supplier in marketing, supplying, or collecting payment for goods or services. This includes the use of physical force, coercion, undue influence, pressure, duress, harassment, unfair tactics, or any similar conduct, and taking advantage of a consumer who is unable to protect their own interests because of physical or mental disability, illiteracy, ignorance, inability to understand the language, or any similar factor. This matters directly to how an automated voice agent persuades. A voice agent must not badger, wear down, or pressure a consumer, must not exploit a consumer who plainly does not understand what is being offered, and must respect a consumer's decision to end the call or decline. The Customer configures the agent's script and behaviour and is responsible for keeping them within these limits. The Services support this by allowing the agent to detect and honour a refusal, to disclose that the caller is speaking with an automated assistant, and to end a call cleanly when the consumer asks.

3.2 No false, misleading, or deceptive representations (section 41)

The CPA prohibits a supplier, in marketing goods or services, from making a false, misleading, or deceptive representation, or from failing to correct an apparent misapprehension on the part of a consumer. This constrains what a voice agent may say. The agent must not misstate the price, the nature, the characteristics, or the benefits of what is offered, must not claim an approval, sponsorship, or affiliation it does not have, must not invent scarcity or urgency, and must not allow a consumer to proceed under a misunderstanding it can see. Because a voice agent generates language in real time, the Customer is responsible for constraining the agent so that it states only what is true, keeps to approved claims about the Customer's goods and services, and corrects a consumer who has plainly misunderstood the offer. The Services support recording and transcription so that what the agent represented on a call can later be verified.

4. Plain language

The CPA requires that a notice, document, or visual representation provided to a consumer be in plain language, meaning that an ordinary consumer of the class of persons for whom it is intended, with average literacy and minimal relevant experience, could be expected to understand its content, significance, and import without undue effort. Applied to a spoken interaction, this means a voice agent should describe an offer, its price, and its material terms in clear, ordinary language, at a reasonable pace, and should avoid jargon, fine-print recitations that a listener cannot absorb, and terms buried in speed or complexity. The Customer is responsible for writing the agent's script and any confirmation wording to this standard. Because material terms are difficult to convey in speech alone, the Services support sending a durable, readable confirmation of the offer and its terms, as described in section 9.

5. Your right to restrict direct marketing and to opt out

5.1 The consumer's right to be left alone (section 11)

The CPA gives every consumer the right to privacy, which includes the right to refuse, or to require another person to discontinue, direct marketing. A consumer may demand during any direct-marketing approach, or at any other time, that the supplier stop, and the supplier must respect that demand. A consumer may also pre-emptively block direct-marketing communications. Where a consumer asks a voice agent to stop, or not to be contacted again, that request must be honoured. The Services support recognising an opt-out spoken on a call, recording it against the person contacted, and suppressing further outbound contact to that person. The Customer is responsible for enabling and respecting these controls and for not re-contacting a person who has opted out.

5.2 The National Consumer Commission opt-out registry (in force 15 April 2026)

The consumer-protection framework for direct marketing changed materially in 2026. The CPA Amendment Regulations, in force from 15 April 2026, establish a compulsory opt-out registry maintained by the National Consumer Commission, together with mandatory registration of direct marketers. This regime replaces the earlier voluntary industry list that was operated by the Direct Marketing Association of South Africa. A Customer that conducts direct marketing through the Services is a direct marketer for this purpose and, under the new regime, must:

  1. register as a direct marketer as required by the regulations;
  2. scrub its calling and contact lists against the National Consumer Commission opt-out registry before making direct-marketing contact; and
  3. not contact a person who is recorded on the registry, regardless of any consent the Customer may otherwise hold, because a registry entry operates as a pre-emptive block that overrides prior consent.

We should be candid that this regime is new and its operational mechanics are still being finalised. The registration form and process, any fees, the manner in which the registry is made available to marketers, and the frequency at which lists must be scrubbed against it are matters that were being settled at the time of writing. A Customer should confirm the current mechanics directly with the National Consumer Commission and take its own advice, rather than treat this Notice as a substitute for the regulations as they are actually implemented. The Services provide list-management and suppression tooling that a Customer can use to apply registry-based blocks, but the obligation to register, to obtain and apply the registry, and to keep its scrubbing current rests with the Customer as the supplier.

6. Consent basis for outbound voice contact

The CPA controls how and when direct marketing may reach a consumer, but the question of whether an outbound call may be placed at all is also governed by POPIA, and the two must be read together. In December 2024 the Information Regulator issued guidance on direct marketing under POPIA. On the Regulator's interpretation, a telephone call is a form of electronic communication for the purposes of section 69 of POPIA, so direct marketing by telephone requires the consumer's opt-in consent unless an exemption applies. The Regulator's position also engages the concept of an "automatic calling machine". A voice agent that dials a consumer and speaks without human intervention may itself be an automatic calling machine within the meaning of section 69, which section 69 restricts. Read that way, the compliance-safe basis for outbound consumer voice contact through the Services is the consumer's opt-in consent to being contacted, obtained before the call.

POPIA provides a narrow exemption in section 69(3): a supplier may direct-market to a person who is an existing customer, in respect of the supplier's own similar products or services, where the supplier obtained the person's contact details in the context of a sale, and the person was given a reasonable opportunity to object, free of charge, both when the details were collected and on each subsequent contact. Where a Customer relies on this exemption, it is responsible for meeting each of its conditions.

We should be clear about the status of this. The reading set out above is the Information Regulator's interpretation of section 69, expressed in guidance. It is not yet settled by a court, and the treatment of a live, conversational AI voice agent as an automatic calling machine has not been judicially tested. We describe it because it is the prudent, compliance-safe basis to build on, and the Services are designed to support opt-in consent and the existing-customer exemption accordingly. A Customer should take its own advice on the basis on which it makes outbound calls and should not rely on this Notice as a determination of the law. The consent mechanics, the section 69 detail, and the electronic-direct-marketing rules are dealt with in our POPIA Notice and our Electronic Communications Notice. This Notice does not repeat them.

7. When we may contact you

The CPA empowers regulation of the times at which direct marketing may take place, so that consumers are not approached at unreasonable hours or on days set aside for rest. The Services apply reasonable calling-hour controls as a standard. Our default position is that outbound consumer calls are not placed on Sundays or on public holidays, and on other days are confined to ordinary daytime hours. The Services allow a Customer to enforce calling windows, to respect the time zone of the person being called, and to prevent the agent from dialling outside the permitted hours. We should note that the precise days and hours prescribed for direct marketing are set by regulation and may be adjusted, so a Customer should confirm the currently gazetted permitted hours and configure its campaigns to match them. The Customer is responsible for setting its calling windows to the standard the law requires; the Services provide the controls to do so.

8. Your cooling-off rights

A consumer who is sold something as a result of an outbound marketing call may have more than one right to change their mind, and the two principal rights come from different statutes.

A single sale concluded on a voice call can attract both rights, because it is both a direct-marketing transaction and, where it is concluded through the Services electronically, an electronic transaction. These rights do not add together. The consumer does not receive twelve days by combining the two. Instead the consumer is entitled to the more protective right, so in practice the more generous cooling-off window is the one that must be honoured. Because the windows and their triggers differ, a Customer should honour whichever right gives the consumer the longer or better protection on the facts. The Services support recording the date a transaction was concluded and a durable confirmation from which the cooling-off period can be calculated. The Customer, as the supplier, is responsible for honouring cancellations and making refunds within the required time. The ECTA cooling-off detail, and its exemptions, are set out in our Electronic Communications Notice.

9. Fair and reasonable terms

Part G of the CPA, being sections 48 to 52, requires that the terms on which goods and services are supplied to consumers be fair, just, and reasonable, and it prohibits terms and conduct that are unfair, unreasonable, or unjust. Section 49 adds a specific requirement that certain terms be drawn to the consumer's attention. A term that limits the supplier's risk or liability, that assumes a risk or imposes an obligation on the consumer, that is an acknowledgement of a fact, or that requires an indemnity, must be brought to the consumer's attention in a conspicuous manner and form, and in plain language, before the transaction, and the consumer must be given an adequate opportunity to understand and consider it. Where the term concerns an unusual risk that a consumer could not reasonably be expected to contemplate, the consumer's assent must be positively secured.

This requirement is difficult to satisfy in a purely spoken interaction, because a consumer cannot easily absorb a conspicuous, considered disclosure of a limitation or indemnity delivered only by voice. For that reason, where a Customer uses a voice agent to conclude a transaction that carries such terms, the material terms should be confirmed to the consumer in a durable, readable form, for example a written confirmation the consumer can review, in addition to anything said on the call. The Services support sending such a confirmation. The Customer, as the supplier, is responsible for the fairness of its terms and for drawing the section 49 categories of term to the consumer's attention in an adequate form.

10. Regulators and complaints

Consumer-protection matters under the CPA are overseen by the National Consumer Commission, which enforces the Act and to which complaints about a supplier's conduct may be made, and are adjudicated by the National Consumer Tribunal. A consumer may also seek redress through the relevant provincial consumer authority or an accredited industry ombud where one applies. The consent and automatic-calling layer that sits alongside the CPA, being the section 69 POPIA questions described in section 6, falls to the Information Regulator. A consumer who believes a supplier has marketed or sold to them unlawfully may therefore have a route to the National Consumer Commission on the consumer-protection question and to the Information Regulator on the consent and direct-marketing-by-electronic-communication question. As the supplier, the Customer is responsible for responding to and resolving consumer complaints about its marketing and selling; SmartAlex is responsible for the tooling it provides.

11. Updates and contact

This Notice is reviewed periodically and updated to reflect changes in South African consumer-protection law, including the ongoing reform and implementation of the direct-marketing and opt-out-registry regime, changes in the Services, or changes in our Subprocessors. The effective date below reflects the most recent revision. Where a change is material, we will take reasonable steps to inform Customers in advance through the platform or by email. For questions about this Notice, contact privacy@getsmartalex.com. The relevant South African authorities are the National Consumer Commission, for consumer-protection matters under the CPA, and the Information Regulator, for the consent and direct-marketing-by-electronic-communication matters described in section 6. A South African consumer who wishes to complain about the processing of their personal information may also contact the Information Regulator at POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za or https://inforegulator.org.za.

This Notice is issued by THERCSGROUP PTE. LTD. (UEN 202543608D), 160 Robinson Road, #14-04 Singapore Business Federation Center, Singapore 068914, and is governed by the laws of the Republic of Singapore.

12. Version and effective date

This South African Consumer Protection Act Notice is version 1.0 and is effective from 7 July 2026.