PAIA manual describing how to request access to records held by the business — compulsory for every private-sector entity since 1 January 2022 under s.51 PAIA.
⚠️ This is a blank template, not legal advice: check the wording with a lawyer and adapt it to your jurisdiction and your case.
This template has no optional clauses: the text is the same for everyone.
Required fields not filled: 7. The PDF will have blank lines in their place to fill in by hand.
Click a field label in the text and type, or use the form. Empty fields become blank lines in the PDF.
PAIA MANUAL (Section 51, Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000)
Effective date:
This manual is published in terms of section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 ("PAIA"). Since 1 January 2022, a PAIA manual is compulsory for ALL private bodies, including sole proprietors and close corporations — the previous small-business exemption expired on 31 December 2021.
1. INFORMATION OFFICER 1.1. Information Officer: . By default this is the head of the entity (owner/director) unless a deputy has been designated in writing.
2. RECORDS HELD 2.1. Categories of records held by :
3. RECORDS AVAILABLE WITHOUT A FORMAL REQUEST 3.1.
4. HOW TO REQUEST A RECORD 4.1. 4.2. Fees payable for processing a request: (the standard fee structure prescribed under PAIA applies unless stated otherwise).
5. PERSONAL INFORMATION HELD (CROSS-REFERENCE TO POPIA) 5.1. 5.2. See our separate POPIA privacy notice for the categories of personal information we hold and the purposes for which we process it.
⚠️ This manual is published on our website (where we have one) and is available on request at our place of business. Its absence is a straightforward compliance gap that is easy for a regulator or opposing party to identify — keep it current and cross-referenced with the POPIA privacy notice.
This is a boilerplate template, not legal advice. Employment, consumer-protection, data protection, and food-safety law in South Africa is detailed and fact-specific (BCEA, LRA, POPIA, PAIA, CPA, ECTA, R638) — have this document reviewed and adapted by a labour/commercial lawyer, and where relevant checked against current CCMA and Information Regulator guidance, before use.
Documents that are usually drawn up in the same process.
POPIA-compliant privacy notice for customers, explaining what personal information is collected and why, as required by s.18 of the Protection of Personal Information Act.
E-commerce terms and conditions with the disclosures required by s.43 ECTA and the 7-day cooling-off right under s.44 ECTA, for any business selling online.
Statutory written particulars of employment — a day-one requirement under s.29 BCEA for every employee, covering pay, hours, leave, and notice.
1 of 9 fields are taken from the company, employee or counterparty record, the questionnaire can be dictated to the AI, and the finished document comes with a number, a PDF and an acknowledgement record.