Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection passed a ruling ordering the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia to provide to the journalist of the Center for Investigative Journalism in Belgrade information on diplomatic passports issued in the period 7 July 2008 – 27 April 2014, from which one can learn to whom the diplomatic passport was issued, what functions did the individual hold, the date of issuance and the expiration date of the passport.

Commissioner deems that the public has an undisputed and justified interest to know whether the public authorities abide by the law in the exercise of their competences, in general, and in terms of compliance with the legislation governing the issuance of diplomatic passports, particularly since there has been a public debate regarding the issue for some time now.

Commissioner estimates that the availability of the requested information would contribute to the uncovering of the truth, i.e. the removal of doubts about the legality of the operation of public authorities, or to the determining of the liability in the event of the violation of the law and it would serve to improve the actions aimed at eliminating potential omissions in the future.