As a fundamental substantive right, legal privilege generally protects documents from compulsory production to governmental regulators. However, this protection is not absolute and can be limited by statute or common law exceptions.

Several statutes provide for such limitations. The Promotion of Access to Information Act contains a "public interest override" in section 46 that can compel disclosure of a privileged record held by a public body if it would reveal evidence of a substantial contravention of the law or a serious public safety risk, and the public interest in the disclosure clearly outweighs the harm of the breach. The Tax Administration Act provides a procedural mechanism in section 42A where an independent legal practitioner adjudicates disputes over privilege claims made in response to a request from the South African Revenue Service. Similarly, while the Competition Act grants the Competition Commission broad investigative powers, including "dawn raids," these are subject to valid claims of legal privilege.

The primary common law exception is the crime-fraud exception, which holds that privilege does not apply to communications made to further a criminal or fraudulent scheme. Recent developments, such as the "failure to prevent corruption" offense under the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act and a new National Prosecuting Authority policy on resolving corruption matters, may also impact privilege considerations during regulatory interactions.