The Promotion Of Access To Information Act Commentary

Special Features

• Act reproduced in its entirety.
• Developed partially as a result of research commissioned by the SAHRC, thus directing it very specifically to the needs of those implementing the Act.

Endorsements

“The Human Rights Commission is indebted to Iain Currie and Jonathan Klaaren for the work they have done. The Commentary should be on the desk of everyone who has to make use of the Promotion of Access to Information Act in implementing or in claiming the right of access to information.”
–Leon Wessels — SA Human Rights Commission

“The Promotion of Access to Information Act will impose new demands on both the state and the private sector. This book is a thorough explication of the new law and will be of invaluable assistance to the new information officers and private sector officials and lawyers who will have to advise them.”
–Professor Halton Cheadle

“This book provides the basis for a thorough understanding of the Act. It will allow organisations to find their way through the interpretations and to have a clear view of what the Act implies for them.”
–Bernie Fanaroff (Resolve Crime and Security Solutions)
–Petrus Marais (KPMG)

Table of Contents

Foreword
Preface
Table of Statutes
Table of Cases

1. History of the Promotion of Access to Information Act
2. Interpretation of the Act
3. Impact of the Act
4. Scope of application of the Act
5. Requests
6. Access procedures
7. Grounds for refusal of access: general principles
8. Grounds for refusal of access: specific provisions
9. Internal appeals and judicial review
10. Publication and production of information
11. Implementing institutions and reporting obligations
Annexure: The Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000
Index

About the Authors

Iain Currie (BA Hons) (University of the Witwatersrand), MA and LLB (University of Cape Town) is a professor of Law at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he teaches constitutional law, media law, intellectual property and privacy law. He is an author and co-author of books on the South African Bill of Rights, constitutional and administrative law and on the Promotion of Access to Information Act. Amongst other works, he is the author of The Promotion of Administrative Justice Act: A Commentary and (with Jonathan Klaaren) of The Promotion of Access to Information Act Commentary, both published by Siber Ink. His research interests are in constitutional and administrative law, freedom of information and privacy law and law and new technologies. He is the Secretary-General of the International Association of Constitutional Law.

Jonathan Klaaren is a Professor, and Acting Head of School, at the School of Law, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. His research interests are in human rights and public law, migration law, law and regulation, and sociolegal studies. He has served on a number of editorial committees and boards including those of the South African Journal on Human Rights, Law & Society Review, and Law & Policy. He holds a Phd in sociology from Yale University, law degrees from Wits and Columbia, and humanities degrees from Harvard and Cape Town. He is a former Director of the Mandela Institute.