PAIA Annual Report Submissions

PAIA ANNUAL REPORT SUBMISSIONS

Every year, the Information Regulator (South Africa) publishes an important notice requesting all public and private bodies to submit their PAIA Annual Report by or about June.
We recognize that fulfilling these requirements can be complex, and we are committed to supporting our clients in navigating their compliance goals. We provide assistance with the preparation of standardized PAIA Manuals, Information Officer Appointment letters, registrations on the Information Regulator’s Portal and submissions of PAIA Annual Reports.

What you need to know:

Organisations and their Information Officers are required to register with the Information Regulator of South Africa in compliance with POPIA and PAIA.
The Information Officer is by default the Head of Business, which for a private body may include its Managing Director, CEO, COO, CFO or person of similar designation. An Information Officer may also be appointed in writing by the Head of Business.
All organisations must have a PAIA Manual, accessible on their website. Organisations may also upload their PAIA Manuals to the Information Regulator’s website portal.
Public bodies must submit a PAIA Report each year; the Information Officer of a private body may submit an annual report to the Information Regulator if requested to do so by the regulator.
The notices by the Information Regulator may be labelled as an invitation and the legislation is interpretational on the subject, however, the Information Regulator states on their website the “Information Officers, Heads of Private Bodies, and Deputy Information Officers are required to submit annual reports on behalf of their respective organizations on requests for access to records received and processed” (https://inforegulator.org.za/paia/).
The PAIA Annual Report content requires organisations to state the number of requests received for access to information in terms of PAIA, together with particulars on how many of these were accepted or disputed. An organisation must first have registered itself and its Information Officer before it would be able to submit the report.
CIPC has integrated with the Information Regulator to the extent that any member of the public may search for an organisation on the CIPC BizPortal to confirm whether the organisation may or may not have complied with its registration requirements with the Information Regulator.

Should you need any help with the registration process, PAIA Manuals, Information Officer appointment letters, or preparing your PAIA Report, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.