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 a fee. This is commendable because from the deadline of 1 January 2022 all bodies need to have their own manual that applies to it – no body is exempt. All bodies mean every single body, including a company, CC, sole proprietor, municipality, common law association, body corporate or HOA.

Many argue that this is an example of red tape that just gets in the way of business.

Unfortunately, the templates leave bodies to determine many facts themselves and have many shortcomings. Unfortunately, they will not achieve the intended outcome. The templates leave too much for low public interest organisation to do. And the templates are not comprehensive enough for high public interest organisations. If you use the regulator PAIA manual templates, you are still going to have to do significant work yourself and you won’t have a good manual. You are not obliged to use these templates.

Actions you can take

  • Use our public interest self-assessment to determine if you are a low or high public interest organisation.
  • Join our access to information programme if you have a high public interest score.
  • Ask us to review or draft a PAIA manual for you.
  • Comply with PAIA by asking Michalsons for assistance.
  • Download the regulator’s templates for public and private bodies.

Facts a body will need to determine to draft a manual

  1. The categories of records the body holds.
  2. The categories of records it makes automatically available.
  3. The records the body must make available under other laws.
  4. The subjects on which the body holds records.
  5. A record of processing activities.

These facts will be different for each body and if a body is to do it properly it will be hard for it to determine these facts. The templates could not have catered for every body but they could have given more guidance and examples.

Organisations will need to be better at information governance to be in a position to compile a manual

Shortcomings of the regulator PAIA manual templates

  1. The style and typography are not in line with international best practices. For example, headings should not be in ALL CAPS. And the document does not use in build styles, which makes it hard to customise to match the branding of your organisation.
  2. They are in legalese and very formal. They are about twelve pages long. They aren’t accessible.
  3. They are not in plain and understandable language – surely they should be if they are to promote access to information.
  4. The regulator PAIA Manual templates are not gender-neutral.
  5. They deal with many privacy issues that should rather be dealt with in a privacy policy. You can refer to your privacy policy in the PAIA Manual. International trends are to have the information in a privacy policy and not a PAIA Manual.
  6. It refers to a Chief Information Officer (CIO). This creates confusion between an information officer and a CIO. We do not believe that the CIO should be the information officer. This will confuse people as it is the head of the organisation who is the default information officer and not the CIO.
  7. It requires the officer to provide a fax number. Does anyone still use faxes?
  8. It gives few examples of what the organisation should include. For example, there is a table of records the organisation makes automatically available but no examples. This will make it hard for someone to complete.
  9. It is missing the information regulator details, which the law requires.
  10. They are not in line with the latest PAIA regulations.

What must you do with your PAIA manual?

Your manual needs to be available on your website (if you have one) and at your principal place of business. You don’t need to send your manual to the Information Regulator unless they request it. You don’t need to submit it to anyone.