PAIA Manual

The Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 ("PAIA") gives effect to the right of access to information in section 32 of the Constitution. It allows anyone to request a record held by a private body where that record is required to exercise or protect a right.

Section 51 of PAIA requires every private body to compile a manual explaining what records it holds and how to request them. Since 1 January 2022 no private body is exempt from this requirement, regardless of size or turnover. This manual is that document.

It also serves as the record of processing operations required by section 17 of the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA"), set out in section 10 below.

In terms of PAIA and POPIA, the head of a sole proprietorship is automatically the Information Officer. All requests for access to records must be addressed to the Information Officer at the details above. No Deputy Information Officer has been appointed, as Ayurveda Within has no employees.

The Information Regulator has compiled a guide, in each official language, containing the information a person needs in order to exercise their rights under PAIA. It is available free of charge from:

The following information is freely available and does not require a PAIA request. It can be found on ayurvedawithin.co.za or will be sent on request by email:

• Descriptions of the services offered, their duration and their pricing.
• Background information about the practitioner and her qualifications.
• The Privacy Policy.
• This PAIA Manual.
• The Welcome Pack, terms of booking, cancellation and rescheduling.
• Your own client records — clients may simply ask me for a copy of their forms, session notes and summaries. There is no need to use the PAIA procedure for this, and there is no charge.

Records are held, or may be held, in accordance with the following legislation. Listing an Act here does not mean those records are automatically available to the public.

• Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013
• Income Tax Act 58 of 1962
• Tax Administration Act 28 of 2011
• Value-Added Tax Act 89 of 1991, if and when applicable
• Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008
• Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002

Most records held by Ayurveda Within are the personal and health information of clients, and are confidential. Access to them by anyone other than the client concerned will ordinarily be refused under the grounds set out in section 8 below.

If you are a client asking for your own records

You do not need to follow this procedure. Simply email hello@ayurvedawithin.co.za and ask. I will send you a copy of everything I hold about you, free of charge, as quickly as I reasonably can.

Formal requests under PAIA

1. Complete Form 2 of the PAIA Regulations — "Request for Access to Record of Private Body". The form is available on the Information Regulator's website, or I will email it to you on request.
2. Provide enough detail to identify the record you want and to identify yourself, including an address or email address in South Africa to which a reply can be sent.
3. State clearly which right you are seeking to exercise or protect, and explain why the record is required in order to do so. PAIA does not permit access to the records of a private body without this.
4. If you are making the request on behalf of someone else, attach proof of your authority to do so in a form acceptable to me.
5. Indicate the form of access you would prefer — for example a printed copy, an electronic copy, or inspection — and whether you need to be informed of the decision in any manner other than in writing.
6. Send the completed form to the Information Officer at the address or email address in section 2.

I will decide on the request within 30 days of receiving it, and will notify you in writing of the decision and of the fees payable, if any. That period may be extended by up to a further 30 days where the request is for a large number of records or requires a search through records held elsewhere, in which case I will notify you of the extension and the reasons for it.

Requests for health records

Section 61 of PAIA applies to records about the physical or mental health of the requester. Where I believe that disclosing such a record directly to you is likely to cause serious harm to your physical or mental health, I may first consult a health practitioner nominated by you. If that practitioner advises that disclosure would be likely to cause such harm, I may give access only by providing the record to that nominated health practitioner rather than to you directly.

PAIA obliges me to refuse a request in certain circumstances and permits refusal in others. The grounds most likely to apply to Ayurveda Within are:

• Mandatory protection of the privacy of a third party (section 63). This is the ground most likely to apply. Client files contain health information and other intimate personal detail, and disclosing them to anyone other than the client concerned would be an unreasonable invasion of privacy.
• Mandatory protection of commercial information of a third party (section 64). Trade secrets, or financial, commercial, scientific or technical information belonging to someone else.
• Mandatory protection of confidential information (section 65). Information supplied in confidence, where disclosure would amount to a breach of a duty of confidence.
• Protection of safety of individuals and property (section 66).
• Protection of records privileged from production in legal proceedings (section 67).
• Commercial information of the private body (section 68).
• Research information (section 69).
• Manifestly frivolous or vexatious requests (section 45), or requests where the work involved would substantially and unreasonably divert resources.

Where a record cannot be found or does not exist, I will notify you by way of an affidavit or affirmation to that effect. Where only part of a record may be refused, the remainder will be released.

A request may also be refused where the record is not required for the exercise or protection of a right, or where the requester has not paid the applicable fees.

PAIA provides for two kinds of fee. A request fee, payable before the request is processed, and an access fee covering the cost of searching for, preparing and reproducing the record. Fees are those prescribed in the Regulations made under PAIA, as amended from time to time.

No fee is payable where the request is for your own personal information. A deposit of not more than one third of the access fee may be required where preparation is expected to take more than six hours. If access is ultimately refused, any deposit is refunded.

The detail of how Ayurveda Within collects, uses, shares and protects personal information is set out in full in the Privacy Policy. In summary:

A private body has no internal appeal procedure under PAIA. If your request is refused, or I fail to respond within the applicable period, you may:

• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator using PAIA Form 5, sent to PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za, within 180 days; or
• Apply to a court for appropriate relief.

If your concern relates to the way your personal information has been handled rather than to access, please raise it with me first, and thereafter with the Information Regulator at POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za.

This manual is available:

• On the website at ayurvedawithin.co.za;
• By email, free of charge, to anyone who requests it;
• To the Information Regulator on request.

This manual is reviewed at least once a year, and whenever the practice changes in a way that affects the records it holds or how they are processed. The annual PAIA report to the Information Regulator, due by 30 June each year, is a convenient point at which to carry out that review.