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PAIA / Sections / Section 32
Section 32

Reports to Information Regulator

Part 2 · Access to Records of Public Bodies · Chapter 3 — Manner of Access

The information officer of each public body must annually submit to the Information Regulator a report stating in relation to the public body— (a) the number of requests for access received; (b) the number of requests for access granted in full; (c) the number of requests for access granted in terms of section 46; (d) the number of requests for access refused in full and refused partially and the number of times each provision of this Act was relied on to refuse access in full or partial; (e) the number of cases in which the periods stipulated in section 25(1) were extended in terms of section 26(1); (f) the number of internal appeals lodged with the relevant authority and the number of cases in which, as a result of an internal appeal, access was given to a record; (g) the number of internal appeals which were lodged on the ground that a request for access was regarded as having been refused in terms of section 27; (h) the number of applications to a court which were lodged on the ground that an internal appeal was regarded as having been dismissed in terms of section 77(7); and (i) such other matters as may be prescribed.

[S 32(f), formerly 32(g), renumbered by s 30 of Act 42 of 2001.] [S 32(g), formerly 32(h), renumbered by s 30 of Act 42 of 2001.] [S 32(h), formerly 32(i), renumbered by s 30 of Act 42 of 2001.] [S 32(i), formerly 32(j), renumbered by s 30 of Act 42 of 2001.] [S 32 amended by substituting “Human Rights Commission” with “Information Regulator” by s 110 of Act 4 of 2013 with effect from 30 June 2021.]
Source: SAFLII — Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (consolidated, updated 11 October 2024) — cross-checked verbatim before publishing.
annual reportInformation Regulatorpublic bodystatistics
Beyond the text

What this means in practice

  • Every public body must report PAIA statistics annually to the Information Regulator — requests received, granted, refused (and on which grounds), extended, and appealed.
  • That means you need to be counting and categorising decisions all year, not reconstructing them at reporting time.
Relevant tool

PopiGuard keeps a running, categorised record of every request and decision, so the s.32 annual report writes itself.

See PopiGuard →
← s.31 — Language of accesss.33 — Interpretation →