With the regard to increasing interest in problems in connection with processing of citizens' personal data by retailers, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection emphasized again that in principle, in addition to citizens' freely given consent, a basis for processing of citizens' personal data can only be the law, rather than any secondary legislation.

In that regard, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic also said the following:

"The Constitution of the Republic of Serbia is clear and unambiguous about personal data processing. In its Article 42, it explicitly sets out that processing of personal data must be regulated by the law, i.e. exclusively by the law rather than by subordinate enactments. In that regard, there is also a special decision of the Constitutional Court of Serbia (number: IУз-41/2010) passed in the proceedings I earlier initiated as the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, which also explicitly states that personal data processing cannot be introduced by secondary legislation.

Taking this into account, it is pointless to invoke any secondary legislation as the basis for personal data processing, including the famous "Bylaw on Recording of Sales by issuing Fiscal Slips, the Manner of rectifying Errors in Recording of Sales through Fiscal Cash Registers and the Content and Keeping of Daily Report Ledger".

I know that because of non-compliance with this Bylaw in practice retailers can and do experience inconveniencies with tax authorities, which even threaten them with high fines. This certainly is a problem, but it is unacceptable to address the problem – even if in response to a "threat" - by violating citizens' rights guaranteed under the Constitution by applying of obviously unconstitutional regulations.

I expect the competent Ministry of Finance to resolve the situation as soon as possible, of course in the manner fully compliant with citizens' guaranteed constitutional rights. In so far as attention has been drawn to this problem for years, not only from the aspect of constitutionality, but also from the aspect of elementary sense, purpose and justifiability of collecting citizens' unique personal numbers and signatures for the purpose of complaint or refund. Warnings came not only from the Commissioner, but also from citizens, consumer protection movements, NGOs, traders, economic operators, the Serbian Chamber of Commerce..."