Are there hidden POTRAZ charges beyond the licence fee?
Short answer
No hidden charges. The Second Schedule of SI 155 of 2024 lists only three fees: the tier licence fee (USD 50, 300, 500 or 2,500 a year), the USD 30 application fee for Tiers 2 to 4, and the Data Protection Officer training and certification fee of USD 1,250 per person for Zimbabwean citizens or USD 1,450 for international candidates.
What the law says
The Second Schedule to SI 155 is the complete fee list. It reads: application fees for Tier 2, 3 or 4 licences, USD 30; Tier 1 licence, USD 50; Tier 2, USD 300; Tier 3, USD 500; Tier 4, USD 2,500; DPO training and certification fees, Zimbabwean citizens USD 1,250 per person, international USD 1,450 per person. There are no per-record, per-transaction, per-transfer or per-breach charges, and no fee for filing Form DP2 or Form DP3.
Example
A Tier 1 estate agency in Harare with one internal DPO budgets USD 1,300 in year one (USD 50 licence plus USD 1,250 certification) and USD 50 a year thereafter, plus whatever it chooses to spend on CPD, training and software. If it instead engages an external DPO who is already certified, the year-one figure is USD 50 plus the consultant's retainer.
In practice
Ask your accountant to treat the licence and certification fees as ordinary operating expenses. Be wary of anyone who quotes "POTRAZ processing fees" or "registration handling charges" beyond the Schedule; the official fees are public, and the forms are free to download from the POTRAZ website.
General information, not legal advice. This page covers Zimbabwean law only: the Cyber and Data Protection Act [Chapter 12:07], Statutory Instrument 155 of 2024 and POTRAZ’s 2025 Implementation Guidelines. It is not the EU GDPR and not South Africa’s POPIA. Fees, fine levels and deadlines are as gazetted and published by POTRAZ at 9 September 2026; check the latest POTRAZ notices before acting. Businesses named in examples are fictional.