Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection estimates that it is generally unacceptable for anyone to suffer negative consequences for exercising the rights guaranteed under the Constitution and the Law on Free Access to Information.

In letters addressed to presidents of the Journalist's Association of Serbia [UNS] and Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia [NUNS] today, Commissioner highlighted the case of the journalist Snezana Ceriman, employed with the PE ''Radio televizija Kragujevac'', who requested the Commissioner's assistance because she had been served the Warning Letter Prior to Termination for filing an request for free access to information to the energy supply company "EPS Snabdevanje", regarding the data on due power bills of PE ''Radio televizija Kragujevac''.

Recalling that Commissioner does not have any formal authority to assist in the protection of the status of the journalist under the labor law, and estimating that this is something that goes beyond the importance of the individual case and merits adequate reaction of journalist's associations and the public, Commissioner, Rodoljub Sabic, stated the following:

"I find absolutely unacceptable that anyone should suffer any negative consequences for exercising a right guaranteed under the legislation of this country. This, of course, applies to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and to journalists, whose job is to collect and disseminate information.

If we allowed the collection of information, by filing a request for free access to information, to qualify as a violation of labor discipline what could we expect in the case of the writing or broadcasting?

Therefore, I think that the Warning served to the journalist Ceriman can be understood as a warning to all professional journalists. Moreover, the Warning reminds us that we, as a society and the state, should seek the solutions for the issue of (non)existence of the mechanisms of self-censorship and protection of whistleblowers much more seriously and responsibly."