Last updated: 12 October 2026

After you send Lema International Trading (Pty) Ltd (“Lema”) a request for access to a record under the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (PAIA), we tell you our decision and the fees payable. This page explains that notice, the prescribed fees, the grounds on which a request may be refused, how third parties are involved and what you can do if you disagree. To make a request, see request for access to a record. Our PAIA manual describes the records we hold.

Our decision and how we tell you

We give our decision in writing on Form 3, “Outcome of request and of fees payable”, prescribed by regulation 8 of the Regulations relating to the Promotion of Access to Information, 2021 (the PAIA Regulations).

Time limits

  • We decide and notify you as soon as reasonably possible, and within 30 days of receiving your request or any details missing from it (PAIA section 56(1)). If you asked to be told another way as well, for example by phone, we do so where reasonably possible.
  • We may extend this period once, by up to 30 days, if the request covers or needs a search through a large number of records, needs records from an office in another town or city, or needs consultation that cannot reasonably be finished in time, or if you agree in writing (section 57(1)). We tell you within the first 30 days, with the length of the extension, our reasons and your right to complain about it (section 57(2) and (3)).
  • If a third party must be told about your request, the timetable under “When a request involves a third party” below applies.
  • If we do not give you our decision within the time allowed, your request is regarded as refused (section 58), and you may use the remedies set out below.

What the notice contains

  • A reference number. Quote it in all correspondence with us about the request.
  • What you asked for: inspection of the record, or the type of copy, how it is to reach you and your preferred language.
  • Whether your request is approved or refused and, if it is refused, our reasons.
  • The fees payable, item by item, and whether a deposit is payable.
  • Payment details and where to send proof of payment.
  • Your right to complain to the Information Regulator or apply to court, and the procedure and period for doing so (sections 56(2)(c) and 56(3)(c)).

If we grant your request

  • We give access as soon as reasonably possible after the notice, in the form you reasonably require or, if you did not ask for a particular form, in a form we reasonably decide (section 60).
  • There is no charge for inspecting the record at our offices. Make an appointment and bring the notice with you. If you then want a copy, the reproduction fees below apply.
  • If the record is not held in your preferred language, we may give access in the language in which it is held.
  • We release the record, or the part of it you asked for, once we receive proof of full payment of the fees (section 54(5)).

If we grant part of your request

If part of a record may or must be refused, we give you every other part that can reasonably be separated from it (section 59). The notice then covers both: the fees and form of access for the part we grant, and our reasons for the part we refuse.

If we refuse your request

  • Our notice gives adequate reasons, including the sections of PAIA we rely on, without referring to the content of the record (section 56(3)).
  • If we cannot find a record after taking all reasonable steps, or it does not exist, we tell you so by affidavit or affirmation, with a full account of the search (section 55). This counts as a refusal. If the record is found later, we give you access unless a ground for refusal applies.
  • If you paid a deposit, we repay it (section 54(4)).

Fees

The fees a private body may charge are prescribed in Annexure B to the PAIA Regulations, under “Fees in Respect of Private Bodies”. We charge only these prescribed fees (regulation 16 of the PAIA Regulations).

Request fee

The request fee is R140.00. Every requester pays it, and we process a request once it has been paid (section 54(1), regulation 7(3) and item 1 of Annexure B). When we receive your request, we send you a notice of the fee with payment details. That notice also tells you that you may complain to the Information Regulator or apply to court about the fee, and how (section 54(3)).

Requests for your own personal information

If you only want to know whether we hold personal information about you, we confirm this free of charge once you have given us adequate proof of identity (Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA), section 23(1)(a)).

A request for a copy or a description of your personal information follows the PAIA procedure (POPIA section 25), and the fees on this page apply, including the request fee. PAIA no longer exempts people asking for their own personal information from the request fee: POPIA removed that exemption with effect from 30 June 2021. Before we charge a fee for such a request, we give you a written estimate, and we may ask for a deposit (POPIA section 23(3)).

Access fees

If we grant your request, you pay an access fee for reproducing the record and for the time needed to search for and prepare it (section 54(6)). The prescribed amounts are:

  • Photocopy or printed black-and-white copy of an A4 page: R2.00 per page or part of a page.
  • Printed copy of an A4 page: R2.00 per page or part of a page.
  • Copy in computer-readable form: R40.00 on a flash drive you provide, R40.00 on a CD you provide, or R60.00 on a CD we provide.
  • Transcription of visual images, per A4 page, and copies of visual images: this work is outsourced, and the fee is the service provider’s quotation.
  • Transcription of an audio record: R24.00 per A4 page.
  • Copy of an audio record: R40.00 on a flash drive you provide, R40.00 on a CD you provide, or R60.00 on a CD we provide.
  • Search and preparation: R145.00 for each hour or part of an hour after the first hour, up to a total of R435.00. The first hour is free.
  • Postage, e-mail or other electronic transfer: the actual cost, if any.

Deposit

  • If searching for and preparing the record would take more than six hours, we ask you to pay a deposit before we continue (section 54(2) and regulation 8(3)).
  • The deposit is not more than one third of the access fee that would be payable if your request is granted. The notice shows the hours of search and the amount of the deposit.
  • The notice also tells you that you may complain to the Information Regulator or apply to court about the deposit, and how (section 54(3)).
  • If we refuse your request after you have paid a deposit, we repay it (section 54(4)).

Paying

Pay using the details in our notice and quote its reference number. We may keep the record until all fees have been paid (section 54(5)).

Grounds for refusing a request

We must give you access to a record if you need it to exercise or protect a right, you have followed the PAIA procedure, and none of the grounds for refusal in Chapter 4 of Part 3 of PAIA applies (section 50(1)). In plain terms, those grounds are set out below.

Grounds on which we must refuse

  • Another person’s privacy: the record would unreasonably disclose personal information about someone else, including a person who has died (section 63). This does not apply if, for example, that person has consented in writing, the information is already public, or it concerns their work as an official of a private body.
  • A third party’s commercial information: its trade secrets; financial, commercial, scientific or technical information whose disclosure would be likely to harm its commercial or financial interests; or information it gave in confidence that could put it at a disadvantage in negotiations or competition (section 64). This does not apply if the third party has consented in writing, or to the results of product or environmental testing that would reveal a serious public safety or environmental risk.
  • Confidentiality under an agreement: disclosure would give a third party a claim against us for breaching a duty of confidence we owe it under an agreement (section 65).
  • Safety: disclosure could reasonably be expected to endanger someone’s life or physical safety (section 66(a)).
  • Legal privilege: the record is privileged from production in legal proceedings, unless the person entitled to the privilege has waived it (section 67).
  • A third party’s research: disclosure would be likely to expose the third party, the people doing the research for it or the subject of the research to serious disadvantage (section 69(1)).

Grounds on which we may refuse

  • Security: disclosure would be likely to prejudice the security of a building, structure or system (including a computer or communication system), a means of transport or other property, or the methods used to protect people or property (section 66(b)).
  • Our commercial information: our trade secrets; financial, commercial, scientific or technical information whose disclosure would be likely to harm our commercial or financial interests; information that could put us at a disadvantage in negotiations or competition; or a computer program we own (section 68). This does not apply to the results of product or environmental testing that would reveal a serious public safety or environmental risk.
  • Our research: disclosure would be likely to expose Lema, the people doing the research for us or the subject of the research to serious disadvantage (section 69(2)).

Disclosure in the public interest

Despite the grounds above, we must grant access if the record would reveal evidence of a substantial contravention of, or failure to comply with, the law, or of an imminent and serious public safety or environmental risk, and the public interest in disclosure clearly outweighs the harm the ground protects against (section 70).

When a request involves a third party

Some records concern another person or company: their personal information (section 63), their commercial information (section 64), information we hold in confidence for them under an agreement (section 65) or their research (section 69(1)). For these records, PAIA gives the third party a say before we decide.

  • We take all reasonable steps to tell the third party about your request as soon as reasonably possible, and within 21 days of receiving it, by the fastest means reasonably possible (section 71(1) and (2)).
  • We describe the record, give the third party your name, explain the ground that may apply, and tell them that within 21 days they may make written or oral representations on why the request should be refused, or consent in writing to its disclosure (sections 71(3) and 72).
  • We decide within 30 days after every third party has been told, taking their representations into account, and notify you and the third party (sections 56 and 73(1)). If a third party cannot be reached despite reasonable steps, we take into account that they could not make representations (section 73(2)).
  • If we grant access, we give it to you only once 30 days have passed after our notice to the third party, unless within that period the third party complains to the Information Regulator or applies to court (section 73(3) and (4)).

If you disagree with our decision

Complaint to the Information Regulator

PAIA has no internal appeal against a private body’s decision, so you can go straight to the Information Regulator. Within 180 days of our decision, you may complain about (section 77A(2)(d)):

  • a refusal of your request, including a deemed refusal under section 58 or a notice under section 55 that a record cannot be found;
  • the request fee, an access fee or a deposit (section 54);
  • an extension of the time to decide (section 57(1));
  • the form of access (section 60).

A complaint must be in writing, on Form 5 (regulation 10 of the PAIA Regulations), and the Regulator must help you put it in writing if you need help (section 77B). Form 5 is on the Regulator’s PAIA page. Send the completed form to [email protected].

A third party may complain about our decision on a request for a record that concerns it, also within 180 days (section 77A(3)(c)). If we have decided to grant access, the third party must complain or apply to court within 30 days of our notice to stop access being given (section 73(4)).

Application to court

You, or a third party, may apply to court for appropriate relief within 180 days, but only after the complaint procedure with the Information Regulator has been exhausted (section 78(1)(b), (2) and (3)). A decision of the Information Regulator may also be taken to court (section 78(2)(e) and (3)(d)).

Questions about a notice

Contact our information officer and quote the reference number on the notice. The information officer’s contact details are in our PAIA manual, and our general contact details are on our contact page.

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