VELARIA

PAIA MANUAL

Manual in terms of Section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 ("PAIA")

Date of last revision: 10 August 2026

1. Introduction

This manual is published by Velaria (Pty) Ltd, trading as Velaria ("Velaria", "we", "us", "our") in terms of section 51 of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000 ("PAIA"), as amended by the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA"). It explains what records Velaria holds, which records are available without a formal request, and how a person may request access to a record under PAIA.

Under section 50 of PAIA, a requester must be given access to a record of a private body if the record is required for the exercise or protection of any right, the procedural requirements of PAIA have been complied with, and access is not refused on a ground set out in Chapter 4 of Part 3 of PAIA.

2. Contact details of the body and the Information Officer

Business name: Velaria (Pty) Ltd

Trading as: Velaria

Physical and postal address: 28c Hooper Road, Crestholme, KwaZulu-Natal, 3610, South Africa

Information Officer: Carmen Langkilde (Chief Executive Officer)

Telephone: +27 60 907 3154

Email: info@velaria.co.za

Velaria is registered with the Information Regulator of South Africa as a private organisation.

3. The Regulator and the Guide on how to use PAIA

A person may also contact the Information Regulator, which has published a guide (as contemplated in section 10 of PAIA) containing information to assist a person wishing to exercise a right under PAIA or POPIA. Details of the Information Regulator:

●       Physical address: JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001

●       Website: inforegulator.org.za

●       General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za

●       PAIA enquiries: PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za

4. Records available without a formal PAIA request

The following records are voluntarily made available and do not require a formal PAIA request:

●       Velaria's Privacy Policy, published on velaria.co.za

●       Velaria's Terms of Service and other website policies, published on velaria.co.za

●       This PAIA Manual

●       Product and pricing information published on the website

A customer may also obtain their own order history and account details directly through their Velaria account, or by contacting Velaria using the details in section 2.

5. Description of records held by Velaria

Velaria holds records falling broadly within the following categories. This is a description of the categories of records held, and does not itself constitute access to those records.

Category	Records held
Customer records	Customer names, contact details, delivery addresses, order history, and communications relating to orders, returns, or enquiries.
Financial records	Sales records, invoices, payment transaction records processed via the store's payment gateway, and related accounting records.
Marketing records	Email marketing lists and engagement records for customers who have opted in to receive marketing communications.
Supplier and operational records	Records relating to suppliers, stock, packaging, and fulfilment of orders.
Website and platform records	Records generated through the operation of the Velaria website, hosted on the Shopify platform, including order and account data processed on Velaria's behalf by Shopify.
Compliance records	Records relating to Velaria's registration with, and reporting to, the Information Regulator under POPIA and PAIA.

6. How to request access to a record

A requester who wishes to obtain access to a record not listed in section 4 must:

●       Complete the prescribed Form 2 (Request for Access to Record of a Private Body) in terms of Regulation 7 of the PAIA Regulations, 2021, available from the Information Regulator's website.

●       Submit the completed form to the Information Officer at the contact details in section 2, providing enough detail to identify the record sought, the requester's identity and contact details, and the form of access requested.

●       State the right the requester seeks to exercise or protect, where the request is not made on the requester's own behalf.

●       Pay the prescribed request fee referred to in section 7, where applicable.

Velaria will notify the requester of the decision on the request, and of any further access fee payable, within the statutory period prescribed by PAIA (currently 30 days of receipt of the request, subject to any extension permitted under PAIA).

7. Fees

The fees below are the statutory amounts prescribed in Annexure B to the PAIA Regulations, 2021 (GN R.757, Government Gazette 45057 of 27 August 2021). These may be amended by the Minister from time to time; the current gazetted amounts take precedence over this manual.

Item	Description	Rate
Request fee (section 54(1))	Payable by a requester who is not a personal requester	R50.00
Photocopy, per A4 page	Reproduction of a paper record	R1.10
Printed copy, per A4 page (electronic record)	Record held on computer or in electronic form	R0.75
Search and preparation	Per hour or part thereof reasonably required	R30.00
Appeal fee (internal appeal, if applicable)	N/A	R50.00

A personal requester seeking access to a record containing that requester's own personal information is not required to pay the section 54(1) request fee.

8. Grounds for refusal of access

Access to a record may be refused on the grounds set out in Chapter 4 of Part 3 of PAIA. These include, where applicable, the mandatory protection of the privacy of a third party (section 63), the protection of certain confidential or commercial information of a third party (sections 64–65), and the protection of Velaria's own commercially sensitive information, where release would be reasonably likely to cause harm as contemplated by PAIA.

9. Voluntary disclosure and automatic availability

Nothing in this manual limits Velaria's ability to voluntarily disclose a record outside of the PAIA process, at Velaria's discretion, where doing so is not otherwise restricted by law or contract.

10. Availability of this manual

This manual is available on Velaria's website and may be requested free of charge from the Information Officer using the contact details in section 2.