Press Releases - Archive

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection has passed a Decision ordering the Serbian Ministry of Economy to provide the organization Transparency Serbia without delay, and in any case not later than three days of service of the Decision, a copy of the Management and Consulting Services Agreement entered into on 21 March 2015 between the Republic of Serbia, the company "Zelezara Smederevo"d.o.o. (Smederevo Ironworks Ltd) of Belgrade and HPK ENGINEERING B.V. of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The Commissioner is of the opinion that the delegation of management duties relating to publicly-owned resources, especially if the resource concerned is of such value and importance as the Smederevo Ironworks, is a transaction that has quite understandably garnered much public interest and maintains that the public has a legitimate interest in accessing all pertinent information.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić met today with the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Šabić to discuss current problems encountered by the Commissioner in his work and to examine ways of achieving closer cooperation between the Commissioner and the Government and other national authorities. The meeting took place in the offices of the Commissioner.

Prime Minister Vučić underscored it was necessary to ensure more frequent communication between the Commissioner and members of the Serbian Government. The parties agreed that monthly meetings with the Ombudsman and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance should become a regular practice.

The Commissioner noted continual progress was seen in the field of freedom of information last year, notwithstanding certain issues and the increasing number of complaints received by the Commissioner from citizens and entities, while the situation in the field of personal data protection was unacceptable and a matter of grave concern.

The Commissioner recalled he had submitted a Bill on Personal Data Protection to the Government and that a Bill of Amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance had been prepared earlier. He received assurances from the Prime Minister that these bills would be considered in an expedited procedure. The Prime Minister welcomed the Commissioner's initiative for an Action Plan on Achievement of European Standards in the Field of Personal Data Protection.

Between 27 May 2015 and 12 June 2015, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection conducted an analysis of 18 information booklets about the work of local self-government authorities, including authorities of the City of Belgrade and the authorities of city municipalities formed by the City of Belgrade.

The analysis of the eighteen information booklets published by the said authorities has revealed that none of them are fully compliant with the law and the Instructions on Preparation and Publication of Information Booklets.

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection has conducted a number of investigations of compliance of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the Law on Personal Data Protection, after which he issued relevant Letters of Warning for the purpose of remedying the identified irregularities in personal data protection.

The underlying causes of these irregularities are more or less the same as those generally observed with other entities: ambiguity and inconsistency of relevant laws and regulations; insufficient level of training of persons involved in the processing of citizens' personal data; lack of systems that would allow concrete identification of officials who access official databases containing personal data; and, most importantly, the inherited mentality which sees invasions of privacy as "not a big deal", which as a rule creates situations where no one is held to account.