PAIA Manual
What records Arcivo holds, and how to request access to them under PAIA.
This manual tells you what records Arcivo Information Management holds, how to request access to them under the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (PAIA), and how to exercise your rights over your personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA). We publish it because PAIA requires it — and because advising clients on access to information while being opaque ourselves would be a poor look.
1. About Arcivo
Arcivo Information Management (trading as Arcivo) is a private body as defined in PAIA, registration number 2026/385170/07. We are an information governance and records management firm based in Johannesburg, South Africa, operating across all nine provinces. Email: [email protected].
2. Our Information Officer
Requests for access to records, and requests relating to personal information, must be addressed to our Information Officer, Tareq Vazi, who is registered with the Information Regulator. Contact the Information Officer at [email protected]. The Information Officer is responsible for deciding requests made under this manual.
3. The Information Regulator
PAIA and POPIA are overseen by the Information Regulator (South Africa), to whom you may complain if you are unhappy with how a request has been handled.
Physical address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001. Postal address: P.O. Box 31533, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2017. Telephone: 010 023 5200. Website: inforegulator.org.za. Complaints are lodged through the Regulator's eServices portal at eservices.inforegulator.org.za; PAIA complaints may also be sent to [email protected].
4. The Guide on how to use PAIA
The Information Regulator has published a Guide, in terms of section 10 of PAIA, on how to use the Act to request access to information. The Guide is available in each official language, free of charge, on the Regulator's website at inforegulator.org.za or on request from its offices.
5. Records available without a formal request
Some of our records are already publicly available and do not require a PAIA request — for example, the content of this website, including our service descriptions, the POPIA Hub resources, this manual and our Privacy Policy. Arcivo has not published a notice under section 52(2) of PAIA listing categories of records automatically available; any record not already public must be requested in terms of section 8 below.
6. Records held by Arcivo
To help you frame a request, the main subjects on which we hold records, and the categories of records held on each, are:
Company and statutory records — incorporation and registration documents, statutory registers, and records required by the Companies Act.
Client records — service agreements, correspondence, assessments, project files and deliverables.
Records held on behalf of clients — physical and digital records we store or manage under records-management agreements. These remain the client's information and are subject to the relevant client agreement; a request for such records will ordinarily be referred to the client.
Employee records — personnel files, payroll, and records required by labour and tax legislation.
Financial and supplier records — accounting records, invoices, contracts and tax records.
Website and enquiry records — contact-form submissions and related correspondence, as described in our Privacy Policy.
7. Records held in terms of other legislation
Certain of our records are kept in order to comply with, and may be accessible under, other legislation, including the Companies Act, 2008; the Labour Relations Act, 1995; the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 1997; the Employment Equity Act, 1998; the Income Tax Act, 1962; the Value-Added Tax Act, 1991; the Unemployment Insurance Act, 2001; the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act, 1993; and the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013. Listing a record here does not mean it will be released; access remains subject to PAIA.
8. How to request access to a record
A request must be made on the prescribed form for requesting access to a record of a private body, which is available from our Information Officer and on the Information Regulator's website. Send the completed form to our Information Officer at [email protected].
Your request must give enough detail to identify the record and the requester, state the form of access required and how you wish to be notified of the decision, and — if you are requesting a record in order to exercise or protect a right — identify that right and explain why the record is required for it. If you are requesting on behalf of someone else, you must also provide proof of your authority to do so.
The Information Officer will decide the request within 30 days of receiving it. That period may be extended by a further 30 days where PAIA allows, in which case we will tell you. We will notify you of the decision, any fees payable, and your rights if access is refused.
9. Fees
Two fees may apply, as prescribed in the PAIA Regulations (Annexure A to Government Notice R.757 of 27 August 2021): a request fee, payable before we process your request, and an access fee, payable before a record is released, based on the time and materials involved in preparing it. The current prescribed amounts are available from our Information Officer and on the Information Regulator's website. Where a fee is payable, we will send you a notice setting out the amount before proceeding.
10. When access may be refused
PAIA allows — and in some cases requires — a private body to refuse access to a record. The grounds are set out in Chapter 4 of PAIA and include protecting the privacy of a third party, the commercial or confidential information of a third party or of Arcivo, records protected by legal privilege, the safety of individuals and property, and research information. Access may still be granted where the public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs the harm, as PAIA provides. If we refuse a request, we will give you written reasons and explain your remedies.
11. If you are not satisfied
Arcivo is a private body, so PAIA provides no internal appeal. If your request is refused, or you are unhappy with how it was handled, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator (see section 3) or apply to a court for appropriate relief, within the time limits set out in PAIA.
12. Requests about your personal information (POPIA)
If you want to know what personal information we hold about you, or to have it corrected or deleted, or to object to our processing of it, you may make a request to our Information Officer on the forms prescribed in the POPIA Regulations, available from our Information Officer and on the Information Regulator's website. Requests for access to your own personal information are dealt with through the PAIA procedure in section 8. How we handle personal information generally is set out in our Privacy Policy.
13. Availability of this manual
This manual is available, free of charge, on this website at arcivo.co.za/paia-manual, from our Information Officer on request, and through the Information Regulator.
14. Updates
This manual is reviewed and updated as Arcivo's records and operations change. The "last updated" date above reflects the current version.