Promotion of Access to Information Act Act 2, 2000 of the Republic of South Africa
Section 32 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, No. 108 of 1996 ("the Constitution") provides:
Everyone has the right of access to:
- any information held by the state and
- any information that is held by another person and that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights.
National legislation must be enacted to give effect to this right, and may provide for reasonable measures to alleviate the administrative and financial burden on the state.
The Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2 of 2000 ("the Act"), was enacted on 3 February 2002 to give effect to section 32 of the constitution, that is giving effect to the constitutional right of access to any information held by the State and any information that is held by another person and that is required for the exercise or protection of any rights. Where a request is made in terms of this Act, the private or public body to whom the request is made is obliged to release the information, except where the Act expressly provides that the information must not be released. The Act sets out the requisite procedural issues attached to such request.
The act came into effect on 9 March 2001 with the exception of sections 10, 14, 16 and 51 which sections were brought into operation on 15 February 2002.