A k-uniform hypergraph H=(V;E) is said to be self-complementary whenever it is isomorphic with its complement H=(V;(V choose k)-E). Every permutation σ of the set V such that σ(e) is an edge of H if and only if e ∈E is called self-complementing. 2-self-comlementary hypergraphs are exactly self complementary graphs introduced independently by Ringel (1963) and Sachs (1962). For any positive integer n we denote by λ(n) the unique integer such that n=2^λ(n)c, where c is odd. In the paper we prove that a permutation σ of [1,n] with orbits O₁, ...,O_m is a self-complementing permutation of a k-uniform hypergraph of order n if and only if there is an integer l ≥0 such that k=a2^l +s, a is odd, 0 ≤s < 2^l and the following two conditions hold: (i) n=b2^l+1+r, r ∈{ 0, ...,2^l-1+s}, and (ii) Σ_{i:λ(|Oi|) ≤l} |O_i| ≤r. For k=2 this result is the very well known characterization of self-complementing permutation of graphs given by Ringel and Sachs.