Leanne van Wyk, Director, ICTS Legal Services
All private bodies, for example companies and retirement funds, must provide the Information Regulator with a report about Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) requests that they have received for access to records.
It’s compulsory
The Information Regulator has confirmed that providing the report is compulsory. This would include retirement funds. Failure to report may result in the Information Regulator, on its own-initiative, conducting a compliance assessment on the relevant private body.
This report must be submitted by 30 June 2023 by the head of the private body.
This is the first time that the Information Regulator has asked private bodies to submit this type of report.
Collecting information about PAIA requests
The Information Regulator wants to:
- Determine whether public and private bodies are receiving and recording requests for information;
- Obtain a picture of the status of compliance with PAIA and its implementation in public and private bodies; and
- Ascertain the usage of PAIA by members of the public when it comes to access to information and measure or indicate the levels of awareness of PAIA from the side of the requester and public and private bodies.
Submit the report through the Information Regulator’s portal
The report must be submitted through the Information Regulator’s online portal. The following banner appears on the information Regulator’s website (inforegulator.org.za):
The report consists of a number of questions which the private body must answer online. Please complete all the questions properly.
Please note: the online portal is not working properly yet. No doubt this teething problem will resolve itself.
The information required in the report
We expect that the quantitative questions that will be required to be answered in the report about requests to access to records will relate to the following matters:
The number of requests: received; granted in full; granted in terms of section 46 of PAIA (mandatory disclosure in the public interest); refused in full and refused partially; and the number of times each provision of PAIA was relied on to refuse access in full or partially. Numerical information about: extension of PAIA periods; internal appeals and outcomes of appeals; appeals because decisions were not provided; and applications to court.
Managing PAIA requests
It is important that funds (as with other private bodies) keep information about requests under PAIA as well as certain requests under the Protection of Personal Information Act. The internal management, analysis, reporting and improvement resulting from requests for access under both PAIA and POPIA is an important ongoing function.
Help
Please contact us if you need assistance with complying with POPIA requirements.
ICTS Legal Services (Pty) Ltd, Leanne van Wyk, vanwykl@icts.co.za
ENDS