The claim that free access to official information is a prerequisite for public accountability and an essential feature of participatory democracy "must be balanced against the legitimate need for secrecy in matters relating to defence, international relations and where information is personal or is held in confidence." Chapter 4 of the PAIA lists a number of grounds on which access to requested information must or may be refused unless a public interest "override" applies. Some of the mandatory grounds protect the privacy of natural persons, records held by the South African Revenue Service, records privileged from production in legal proceedings and commercial information held by a third party. The latter covers trade secrets and other financial, commercial, scientific or technical information. Under section 23 of the interim Constitution, organs of state could be and were required to disclose tender documents to allow a competitor to determine whether its rights to just administrative action had been violated. Under PAIA, however, the state would be entitled to refuse a request for these records if they contained confidential commercial information.
