Analyses: The Application of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 in Consumer Protection

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Published date: 16 August 2019
• Date: 16 August 2019
• Citation: (2007) 19 SA Merc LJ 461
• Author: Natania Locke
• Pages: 461-472

The Application of the Promotion ofAccess

to Information Act 2 of 2000 in

Consumer Protection*

NATANIA LOCKE

University of South Africa

1 Introduction

The South African Department of Trade and Industry is currently working

on a legislative framework to address consumer protection issues. Its efforts

have thusfar resulted in the National Credit Act 34 of 2005 and the draft

Consumer Protection Bill, 2006 (published as GN 418 in Government Gazette

28629 of 15 Mar 2006). A second draft appeared in September 2006, but it

was not published for public comment (a copy is available at

www.thedti.gov.za>, last visited on 14 Aug 2007; references in this analysis

will specificall state which draft is referred to).

Both the National Credit Act and the two draft Consumer Protection Bills make

provision for the mandatory disclosure of certain information. These disclosures

are mostly aimed at assisting the consumer in making informed choices.

The Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (the ‘PAIA’) gave

content to the right of access to information as provided for in s 32 of the

* This analysis is based on a paper delivered at the 11th International Conference on Consumer Law,

held on 11-13 April 2007 in Cape Town.

DEFINING THE UNINCORPORATEDBUSINESS IN FINANCIAL DISTRESS 461

(2007) 19 SA Merc LJ 461

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