Press Releases - Archive

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection completed an inspection of the Clinic for Psychiatric Diseases "Dr. Laza Lazarevic" and the Ministry of Health initiated because information and documents concerning the health status of citizen A.K. were disclosed in a television programme aired on "TV Pink".

The Commissioner found a number of omissions and unlawful actions in this specific case regarding the basis for processing and the manner of personal data processing and both the Clinic and the Ministry were issued relevant letters of warning.

As the Commissioner believed the observed shortcomings and omissions constituted infringements punishable under the law, he filed petitions for institution of infringement proceedings against the Clinic for Psychiatric Diseases "Dr. Laza Lazarevic" and Ms Slavica Djukic Dejanovic, Director of the Clinic, as well as against Mr. Zlatibor Loncar, Minister of Health (under the law, Ministries cannot be charged with infringements).

Since it was found during the inspection that the document used in the programme aired on TV Pink was a true and accurate copy of the original document which had been created at the Clinic and then forwarded, the Commissioner finds there is reasonable suspicion of commission a criminal offence under Article 146, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code. For this reason, he also filed criminal charges with the competent prosecutors' office.

As the Ministry of Health stated in its response to the Commissioner's request that the information in question had been requested by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and forwarded to it, criminal charges have been brought against an unidentified official at the "Dr. Laza Lazarevic" Clinic or the Ministry of Health or the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The prosecutors' office should identify this person using the methods and powers at its disposal which are not available to the Commissioner and take further relevant steps.

In connection with this whole affair, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic said:

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection has been informed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs that this Ministry, acting in compliance with the Commissioner' letter of warning, has destroyed the records formed so far with information on persons who purchased tickets to "high-risk" sports events.

The Commissioner commended the response by the Ministry and said it was compliant with the law and helped mitigate the risk of potential misuse of personal data; he also commended the fact that the Ministry, acting in compliance with this letter of warning, had instructed all district police administrations by a guidance dispatch how to process such personal data.

The Commissioner had previously inspected compliance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the Law on Personal Data Protection, after which he warned the Ministry it had unlawfully processed personal data by creating permanent data files from the information obtained from organisers of sports events in that it had continued to process such data even after the purpose had been achieved.

Without going into the issue of effectiveness of the Law on the Prevention of Violence and Indecent Behaviour at Sports Events in practice and the modest results it has achieved so far, the Commissioner notes that the purpose of the Law was to identify persons for the purpose of bringing misdemeanor or criminal charges against them; once such means of identification are no longer needed (if perpetrators have been identified or if no misdemeanours or criminal offences were committed at an event), the purpose of data has been achieved and any further processing is inadmissible.

The Commissioner also said that the modest effects and highly inconsistent application of the provisions of the Law on the Prevention of Violence and Indecent Behaviour at Sports Events spoke of the need for its revision, both from the aspect of personal data protection and for other reasons.

Citizens have increasingly been contacting the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection because of activities of political parties that send their activists to visit citizens at their home addresses, which the citizens perceive as harassment and often also as inadmissible personal data processing.

The Commissioner lacks the power and the means to prevent anyone from making unsolicited visits to citizens' home addresses; however – and this should go without saying – he would like to remind citizens it is entirely up to them to decide whether they want to let party-political activists into their homes or answer their questions and they are by no means required to do so.

The Commissioner finds it rather telling that citizens are protected, at least on paper, from unsolicited visits by door-to-door salespersons, agents and service providers by a set of consumer protection provisions contained in several laws, but that there are no legal provisions which would protect them from harassment by party-political activists. The competent authorities should review this in order to determine whether such different legal treatment is justified.

As regards the suspicion that party-political activists carry out unauthorised personal data processing during these visits, the Commissioner would like to underscore once again that personal data processing is lawful only if authorised by the law or if the data subject has freely given his/her consent. Where these grounds for processing do not exist, personal data processing is inadmissible, which means that a person who carries out such data processing is committing an infringement under Article 57 of the Law on Personal Data Protection.

Furthermore, as regards the suspicion that party-political activists use official electoral rolls or extracts from electoral rolls, the Commissioner notes most emphatically that any unauthorised provision, disclosure or use of personal data collected, processed or used under the law for purposes other than those for which they were intended constitutes a criminal offence under Article 146 of the Criminal Code. A specific form of this criminal offence, indeed its most serious form, occurs when it is committed by an official, in which case it is punishable by up to three years of imprisonment. In this context, the Commissioner considers it worrying and disappointing that public prosecutors' offices have not acted as expected although there have been numerous instances of reasonable suspicion of multiple criminal offences.

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection sent a letter to the addresses of hundreds of authorities warning them of their duty under Article 43 of the Law on Free Access to Public Information, which obliges all state authorities, territorial autonomy, local government bodies and organizations entrusted with the exercise of public authority to submit an annual report on the activities undertaken in order to implement this law, and specifies the content of the report.

The reports that state bodies are required to submit until January 20th next year represent the basis for preparation of the annual report on the state of free access to public information and protection of personal data that the Commissioner is required to submit to the National Assembly each March for the previous year and to forward it to the President of the Republic, the Government and the Ombudsman.

The Commissioner also warned authorities that the failure to submit the report is established as a punishable offense according to Article 48 of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance.