There seems to be confusion in the market relating to which business entities must comply with the provisions of POPIA and more specifically with reference to the PAIA Manual.
In terms of Section 51 of PAIA, and within six months after the commencement of that section (which was 15 February 2002), a private body had to compile a PAIA Manual. The Minister then made certain exemptions and indicated that private companies operating in certain sectors were exempted from submitting their manual, the sectors being companies with less than 50 employees or with a turnover under the threshold as published. This only related to the manual and not to compliance with PAIA.
On 11 December 2015, the Minister published a notice (Government Gazette 39504) extending the exemption for a further period of five years to 31 December 2020.
On 18 December 2020, the Minister once again (In Government Gazette 44003) issued a notice that this period is further extended to 30 June 2021.
Section 110 of POPIA comes into operation on 30 June 2021 as per Proclamation Nr21 in Government Gazette 43461 dated 22 June 2020. Section 110 of POPIA amends certain Acts, including PAIA, and more specifically the requirement for all private bodies (business entities) to comply with PAIA and the PAIA Manual.
The effect thus is that ALL business entities must as from 1 July 2021 comply with both PAIA as well as POPIA, which includes the PAIA / POPIA Manual.
Previously the manual, if you were not exempted, should have been submitted to the Human Rights Commission. This have been amended to stipulate that it should be supplied to the Information Regulator on request, but must be kept at the principal place of business and published on a website if the business does have a website (refer to Item 12 on the amendments made by Section 110).
