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South Africa: Regulator takes PAIA function from SAHRC and addresses PAIA manual exemption extension

The Information Regulator released, on 29 June 2021, a notice in which it highlighted that it will take over the regulatory mandate functions relating to the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 ('PAIA') from the South African Human Rights Commission ('SAHRC') from 30 June 2021. Furthermore, the Regulator outlined that the Promotion of Access to Information Amendment Act 31 of 2019 ('PAIA Amendment Act'), which amended PAIA, came into operation on 1 April 2021. In light of this, the information on the private funding of political parties and independent candidates must be recorded, preserved, and made available upon request by the public and the head of the political party is the Information Officer, who must be registered with the Regulator. 

In relation to PAIA manuals, the Regulator outlined that the scope of information that the manual must cover has been widened to include matters relating to the processing of personal information in terms of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 ('POPIA') and the exemption for smaller private bodies to provide such a manual was due to expire on 30 June 2021. However, the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services, Mr Ronald Lamola, has extended the current exemption by a further six months effective from 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2021 to afford the private bodies that are currently exempted adequate time to compile their PAIA manual.

Moreover, as this is a final exemption in terms of section 51(4) of PAIA, effective from 1 January 2022, all public and private bodies (including those that are currently exempted) must have their PAIA Manual available at their principal place of business or on their web site, if any, and from 30 June 2021, public and private bodies do not have to submit their PAIA Manual to the Regulator. In terms of Section 51(1) of PAIA, as amended, all previously developed PAIA manuals of both public and private bodies must be updated to include provisions relating to the processing of personal information in terms of POPIA.

You can read the notice on taking the SAHRC function here and the extension of the exemption from PAIA manuals here.

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