POPIA, PAIA compliance · 03
PAIA section 51 manual
The manual required by section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act: the particulars of the body and its information officer, a description of the records held by subject and category,…
The manual required by section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act: the particulars of the body and its information officer, a description of the records held by subject and category, the records available without a request, the request procedure and the prescribed forms, the fees, and the remedies available to a requester. Published on your site and lodged as the Act requires.
Every private and public body that holds records, which is every organisation.
The section 51 manual is the cheapest credibility signal available: it is public, it is compulsory, and its absence is the first thing a complainant points at. Keep it current: a manual naming an information officer who left is worse than none, because it proves the obligation was known and then abandoned.
The law it sits under
The framework this work answers to.
Section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 requires the head of a private body to compile a manual setting out, among other things, the body’s contact details, a description of the records it holds, the records available without a request, and how to make a request. Section 52 deals with records made automatically available. The manual must be made available as the Act and its regulations require, and the prescribed fees are those in the PAIA Regulations: a request fee of R140.00, R2.00 an A4 page for copies, and search and preparation at R145.00 an hour excluding the first hour, capped at R435.00.
How the engagement runs
What you are committing to.
The records the organisation actually holds are catalogued by subject and category, including those held under other legislation, and the manual is drafted around them rather than around a template. It is delivered on the company letterhead, with the Form 2 request guide, the fee annexure, the refusal grounds and the remedies, and with the practical part nobody includes: a short internal note telling whoever opens the post what to do when a request arrives.
This practice publishes its own section 51 manual in full on this site. It is the shape yours should take, and it is the fastest way to judge the work before commissioning any.
Related pages, tools and documents
The self-checks and working documents below are free, need no email address, and are the quickest way to judge the work before commissioning any of it.
Start here
Tell us the decision your organisation needs to make.
The first conversation is thirty minutes, confidential and free. You will leave it knowing which of our services you need and which you do not.