1. About this manual
This manual has been prepared by Books, Magazines and Stationery CC (registration number 1997/042497/23), trading as Bargain Books, to give effect to the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 (“PAIA”) and the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (“POPIA”). It sets out the categories of records we hold, how you may request access to them, and how we process personal information.
2. Key contact details
Information Officer: John O’Sullivan
Deputy Information Officer: Stacy Staudt
Postal & physical address: 10 Mymoena Crescent, Athlone Industrial Park, Athlone, Cape Town, 7764
Telephone: +27 21 706 1461
Email: john@bargainbooks.co.za / stacy@bargainbooks.co.za
3. Guide by the Information Regulator
The Information Regulator has published a guide, in terms of section 10 of PAIA, on how to use the Act. It is available in each of the official languages and in braille. You can request a copy from our Information Officer using the details above, or inspect it at our offices during ordinary working hours. You can also request a copy from the Regulator:
Information Regulator (South Africa)
Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
Telephone: 010 023 5200 (toll-free 0800 017 160)
Email: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
Website: inforegulator.org.za
4. Records held
Bargain Books holds records in the following categories, described in section 7 of the PDF manual above: company registration and governance records (including the Memorandum of Incorporation, board minutes and company policies); supplier and publisher contracts, purchase orders, distribution agreements and import/export documentation; product catalogues, ISBN and publisher details, and returns and damaged-stock reports; customer records; store inventory, stock-control and store-operations records; employee records; health and safety records; marketing and promotions records, including loyalty programmes and email/SMS subscriber lists; IT and digital-systems records, including website usage logs, online shopping data, user accounts and cookie consents; financial and accounting records; customer feedback and complaints; loyalty and gift card programme records; and records kept under POPIA and PAIA, including consent forms, operator agreements, access-request logs, the Information Officer’s registration certificate and data-breach records.
Some records, such as this manual, our privacy policy and our website terms and conditions, are available without a formal request (section 7.1 of the manual).
5. How to request access to a record
- Complete Form 02: Request for Access to Record, linked under Applicable Forms at the end of the PDF manual. Contact our Information Officer if you need help with the form. If you cannot complete it because of illiteracy or a disability, you may make the request orally and the Information Officer will complete the form for you.
- Submit the completed form, with the request fee and a deposit (if applicable), to the Information Officer at the postal or physical address or email address above. The form must identify the record you want, who you are and the form of access you need, and explain the right you need the record to exercise or protect.
- We will deal with your request within 30 days of receiving it. The Information Officer may extend this by up to 30 more days if the request is for a large quantity of information, or needs a search for information held at another of our offices, and will tell you in writing if so. We will tell you the decision, and any fees payable, using Form 03.
- There is no internal appeal: the Information Officer’s decision is final. If your request is refused, you may apply to a court for relief within 180 days of being notified of the decision (sections 56(3)(c) and 78 of PAIA), or lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator using PAIA Form 05 (PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za).
6. Fees
A request fee is payable when you submit a request, and access fees apply for copies, transcriptions and the time spent searching for and preparing the record. If searching for and preparing the record will take more than six hours, you may be asked to pay a deposit of up to one third of the amount payable. The amounts are set out in the fee schedule in section 11 of the PDF manual.
7. Grounds for refusal
Access to a record may be refused on the grounds set out in Chapter 4 of PAIA, which section 9 of the PDF manual lists: protecting the privacy of third parties; the commercial information of third parties; confidential information of third parties protected by an agreement; the safety of individuals and the protection of property; records that would be privileged in legal proceedings; our own commercial information, including trade secrets and computer programs we own; research information of the company or a third party; and requests that are clearly frivolous or vexatious, or that involve an unreasonable diversion of resources.
8. Processing of personal information
Bargain Books processes personal information in accordance with POPIA and our Privacy Policy. The categories of data subjects and personal information, the purposes of processing, the recipients of personal information and planned transborder flows are set out in sections 12 to 14 of the PDF manual above. See our Privacy Policy for how we use your personal information and your rights as a data subject.
9. Objections, corrections and complaints
You may object to the processing of your personal information on a form substantially similar to POPIA Form 1. You may ask us to correct or delete personal information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, incomplete, misleading or obtained unlawfully, or to destroy or delete a record we are no longer authorised to keep, on a form substantially similar to POPIA Form 2. Both are free of charge, and you may submit them to our Information Officer by hand, fax, post, email, SMS or WhatsApp. We will tell you in writing what action we have taken on a correction or deletion request.
Complaints about how we handle personal information may be lodged with our Information Officer, or directly with the Information Regulator using POPIA Form 5 (POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za).
10. Updating this manual
The head of Bargain Books reviews and updates this manual at intervals of not more than 12 months. The current version is available on this page and as a PDF download above, and for inspection at our head office during normal business hours. A copy is also available on request, for a prescribed fee per A4-size photocopy.