In March 2025, the Information Regulator of South Africa (Regulator) circulated an invitation to submit the 2024/2025 financial year annual reports in respect of access to information requests received and processed by public and private bodies in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA).
In terms of section 32 of PAIA, the information officer of a public body is obliged to submit an annual report to the Regulator in respect of access to information requests received and processed by the public body. In respect of private bodies, section 83(4) of PAIA provides that the Regulator may request the information officer of a private body to submit an annual report and the private body may furnish the Regulator with details relating to the requests for access to records received and processed by that the private body.
Although entitled ‘invitation’, and whilst section 83(4) provides that a private body ‘may’ furnish the report to the Regulator, this is not a voluntary exercise. The Regulator has requested private bodies to submit their annual reports, and the Regulator has confirmed that all private bodies are required to submit a PAIA report.
Method and timing of submission of the Report
As part of its efforts to facilitate seamless compliance with PAIA, the Regulator has developed an online submission platform for reporting. Reports must be submitted through the Regulator’s eServices Portal accessed here: https://eservices.inforegulator.org.za/.
To submit the report, the information officer (and deputy information officer, if applicable) of the private or public body concerned must be registered on the eServices Portal. Accordingly, to the extent not yet done so, these officers must register as such on the eServices Portal to proceed with submitting a report.
The portal will be accessible for reporting from 1 April 2025 and will close on 30 June 2025. Organisations are encouraged to complete submissions early to avoid last-minute technical issues.
Contents of the Report
When submitting the report on the eServices Portal, the information officer will be presented with a list of questions that will need to be responded to. Regardless of an organisation’s financial year, the responses provided to the questions need to cover the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025.
Depending on whether the organisation is a public or private body, the questions may include:
- The number of requests for access received by the organisation;
- The number of requests for access granted in full;
- The number of requests for access refused in full or refused partially and the number of times each provision of PAIA was relied on to refuse access in full or partially;
- The number of cases in which the prescribed time periods to respond to the request were extended;
- The number of internal appeals lodged (if applicable);
- The number of complaints lodged against the organisation with the Information Regulator;
- The number of decisions of the Information Regulator reviewed against; or
- The number of applications made to a court, and the number of court decisions appealed against and the outcome thereof.
Once submitted, the information officer will receive a confirmation email indicating that the report has been successfully submitted for the organisation. It is important to ensure that accurate and complete information is submitted, failing which the Regulator may issue an information notice to the organisation relating to a lack of information provided.
Consequences for failure to submit a PAIA report
From past experience, it has been the case that a failure to submit a PAIA report timeously may result in the Regulator conducting an own-initiative PAIA assessment of the private or public body concerned. This assessment will usually include a physical inspection and a review of documents relating to the organisation’s compliance with the provisions of PAIA. The consequences of non-compliance with PAIA may result in enforcement proceedings being instituted by the Regulator.
It is accordingly advisable for organisations to submit their annual reports timeously to ensure compliance with their obligations under PAIA. The process to submit a report is quick and user-friendly and step-by-step guidelines are available on the eServices Portal here.
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