A head of a private body who wilfully or in a grossly negligent manner fails to comply with the PAIA provisions commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine, or to imprisonment for a period of up to two years.
The Minister has extended the PAIA manual exemption period until 30 June 2021; so if your organisation is not exempt from having a PAIA manual, your PAIA manual would be expected to be published by such time.
Yes. POPI requires a responsible party to maintain a record of all the company’s processing operations (or activities or functions) under its responsibility in a PAIA manual.
The manual must contain the following information: the postal and street address, phone and fax number, and e-mail address of the head of the body a description of, and how to obtain access to, a guide on how to use the Act to get information from bodies what records are available to an interested party
All public companies, and any private companies that do business in any of the specified industries or sectors and have 50 or more employees, are required to compile a PAIA manual (unless they have been exempted by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services).
PAIA refers to Section 32 of the Constitution, which stipulates that everyone has the right to access information that is held by the State, as well as information held by another person (or private body), when such privately-held information is required for the exercise and protection of one’s human rights.
The Promotion of Access to Information Act No. 2 of 2000.