Section 77A | 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 definition of ‘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 definition of ‘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. 

Section 77C | Action on receipt of complaint

(1) The Information Regulator, after receipt of a complaint made in terms of section 77A, must – 

(a) investigate the complaint in the prescribed manner; 

(b) refer the complaint to the Enforcement Committee established in terms of section 50 of the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013; or 

(c) decide, in accordance with section 77D, to take no action on the complaint or, as the case may be, require no further action in respect of the complaint. 

(2) During the investigation the Information Regulator may – 

(a) act, where appropriate, as conciliator in relation to such complaint in the prescribed manner; or 

(b) take such further action as is contemplated by this Chapter. 

(3) The Information Regulator must, as soon as is reasonably practicable, after receipt of a complaint, advise the complainant and the information officer or head of a private body, as the case may be, to whom the complaint relates of the course of action that the Information Regulator proposes to adopt under subsection (1).