Access to Information

Access to Information is regulated by law in many countries around the world. For example, the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA, or PAI Act) in South Africa. It is crucial to strike a balance between this critical right and the right to privacy. Read our insights, regulatory updates, judgment summaries, enforcement action (including fines and notes), data breaches or authority guidance.

PAIA Regulations | Regulations on the promotion of access to information

The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has published the final PAIA regulations. Regulations on the promotion of access to information The Minister is empowered by the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) to make PAIA regulations. Most [...]

By |2025-12-18T08:06:05+02:00September 7th, 2021|Categories: Access to Information|Tags: , |
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Regulator PAIA Manual template available for download

The information regulator has published a regulator PAIA manual template for both a public and a private body. The regulator is trying to help organisations create a manual themselves quickly and easily without having to pay a service provider [...]

By |2021-10-28T15:39:00+02:00September 7th, 2021|Categories: Access to Information|Tags: , , , |
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PAIA Manual exemption extended again until 30 June 2021!

The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services has once again exempted most organisations from having to compile a PAIA manual. The Minister has decided to exempt certain private bodies "from compiling the Manual contemplated in section 51(1) of PAIA...". [...]

By |2022-06-19T21:23:25+02:00July 13th, 2021|Categories: Access to Information|Tags: , , , |
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South Africa enters a new era of both the protection of and access to information

1 July 2021 is a milestone in South Africa and you have an important role to play into the future. For the protection of personal information, we move out of the grace period and into a world where the [...]

By |2022-11-15T15:58:47+02:00July 1st, 2021|Categories: Access to Information, POPI and Data Protection|Tags: , |
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PAIA Manual exemption extended again until 31 December 2021!

In June 2021, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services once again exempted all private bodies (except for certain companies) from having a PAIA manual until 31 December 2021. The exemption is only six months, effective from 1 July [...]

By |2022-12-20T10:54:21+02:00June 29th, 2021|Categories: Access to Information|Tags: |
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Information regulator annual performance plan for 2021 to 2022

The information regulator has published its annual performance plan for 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. It has also presented them in different formats to different audiences. For example, the regulator held a readiness stakeholder engagement on 15 June [...]

By |2025-03-03T10:03:23+02:00June 17th, 2021|Categories: Access to Information, POPI and Data Protection|Tags: , , , |
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Guidance note on information officers and deputy information officers

The information regulator has published a guidance note on information officers and deputy information officers to provide guidance, procedures and forms to enable responsible parties to do various things required by law. To save you time, we have summarised [...]

By |2025-06-06T14:13:01+02:00April 16th, 2021|Categories: Access to Information, POPI and Data Protection|Tags: , , , , , |
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Mani v The Information Officer Mintek

In Mani v The Information Officer Mintek, Mani made a request to the Information officer of Mintek in terms of PAIA to determine the source of an email containing defamatory information about her. The court ordered Mintek to provide [...]

By |2022-12-19T11:51:03+02:00January 22nd, 2021|Categories: Access to Information|Tags: , , |
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Data protection audit by an authority | GDPR audit

Data protection authorities around the world have started to do a data protection audit (or GDPR audit) on controllers to check that they comply with data protection law. Essentially, the authority compares your organisation to a data protection law that [...]

By |2022-11-08T07:39:18+02:00September 27th, 2019|Categories: Access to Information, Information Law, POPI and Data Protection|Tags: , , , |
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Access to information and data protection in elections

We need free and fair elections in order for democracy to work. Two key aspects of ensuring that the people's voice is heard is access to information (transparency or shining a light on the process) and data protection (processing [...]

By |2024-02-21T13:52:53+02:00April 16th, 2019|Categories: Access to Information, POPI and Data Protection|Tags: , , , , , |
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International Conference of Information Commissioners ICIC 2019

I attended the 11th International Conference of Information Commissioners (ICIC) on 10-14 March 2019 in Johannesburg South Africa with the theme "International cooperation to strengthen public access to information". I found it very interesting and many asked me about the [...]

By |2019-03-18T20:11:11+02:00March 18th, 2019|Categories: Access to Information, POPI and Data Protection|
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My Vote Counts v Minister of Justice and Correctional Services

In the judgment of My Vote Counts v Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, My Vote Counts won the right for the public to know the source of a political party's funding. This enables voters to make informed decisions when [...]

By |2024-01-31T07:39:52+02:00June 21st, 2018|Categories: Access to Information|Tags: , , , , |
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