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Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act No. 2 of 2000)

Part 2 : Access to Records of Public Bodies

Chapter 3 : Manner of Access

26. Extension of period to deal with request

 

(1) The information officer to whom a request for access has been made or transferred, may extend the period of 30 days referred to in section 25(1) (in this section referred to as the "original period") once for a further period of not more than 30 days, if—
(a) the request is for a large number of records or requires a search through a large number of records and compliance with the original period would unreasonably interfere with the activities of the public body concerned;
(b) the request requires a search for records in, or collection thereof from, an office of the public body not situated in the same town or city as the office of the information officer that cannot reasonably be completed within the original period;
(c) consultation among divisions of the public body or with another public body is necessary or desirable to decide upon the request that cannot reasonably be completed within the original period;
(d) more than one of the circumstances contemplated in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) exist in respect of the request making compliance with the original period not reasonably possible; or
(e) the requester consents in writing to such extension.

 

(2) If a period is extended in terms of subsection (1), the information officer must, as soon as reasonably possible, but in any event within 30 days, after the request is received or transferred, notify the requester of that extension.

 

(3) The notice in terms of subsection (2) must state—
(a) the period of the extension;
(b) adequate reasons for the extension, including the provisions of this Act relied upon; and
(c) that the requester may lodge an internal appeal, complaint to the Information Regulator or an application with a court, as the case may be, against the extension, and the procedure (including the period) for lodging the internal appeal, complaint to the Information Regulator or application, as the case may be.

[Section 26(3)(c) substituted by the Schedule: Laws Amended by Section 10, Protection of Personal Information Act 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013), Notice No. 912, dated 26 November 2013]