Exemptions, personal information and severability

From 13 November 2025, Section 8(1)(j), substituted through Section 44(3) of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, reads: ‘information which relates to personal information;’. The earlier clause and its proviso should not be presented as current statutory wording.

Section 8(2) remains in the Act: a public authority may allow access if public interest in disclosure outweighs harm to protected interests. This does not guarantee disclosure of any personal record. State a concrete public-interest basis where relevant rather than assuming the old wording still applies.

Section 8 also covers matters such as national security, court-prohibited disclosure, legislative privilege, commercial confidence, fiduciary information, safety and information that would impede an investigation. Some clauses have their own qualifications. Check the particular clause and the authority’s reasons.

Section 9 concerns copyright held by a person other than the State. Section 24 excludes specified intelligence/security organisations, subject to the Act’s exceptions for corruption and human-rights allegations and the special approval procedure for the latter.

Section 10 provides for access to a reasonably severable non-exempt portion. If only some information is protected, an appeal can ask the authority to consider redacting that part and releasing the rest, rather than withholding an entire document without analysis.

A rejection under Section 7(8) should communicate reasons, the appeal period and particulars of the appellate authority. Compare the reason to the actual records requested and preserve the response for an appeal.