Complaints

(1) A requester or third party referred to in section 74 may only submit a complaint to the Information Regulator in terms of this section after that requester or third party has exhausted the internal appeal procedure against a decision of the information officer of a public body provided for in section 74.

(2) A requester— (a) that has been unsuccessful in an internal appeal to the relevant authority of a public body; (b) aggrieved by a decision of the relevant authority of a public body to disallow the late lodging of an internal appeal in terms of section 75(2); (c) aggrieved by a decision of the information officer of a public body referred to in paragraph (b) of the “public body” in section 1— (i) to refuse a request for access; or (ii) taken in terms of section 22, 26(1) or 29(3); or (d) aggrieved by a decision of the head of a private body— (i) to refuse a request for access; or (ii) taken in terms of section 54, 57(1) or 60, may within 180 days of the decision, submit a complaint, alleging that the decision was not in compliance with this Act, to the Information Regulator in the prescribed manner and form for appropriate relief.

(3) A third party— (a) that has been unsuccessful in an internal appeal to the relevant authority of a public body; (b) aggrieved by a decision of the information officer of a public body referred to in paragraph (b) of the “public body” in section 1 to grant a request for access; or (c) aggrieved by a decision of the head of a private body in relation to a request for access to a record of that body, may within 180 days of the decision, submit a complaint, alleging that the decision was not in compliance with this Act, to the Information Regulator in the prescribed manner and form for appropriate relief.