Press Releases - Archive

Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Mr. Rodoljub Sabic talked today with Mr. Branko Ruzic, Minister without portfolio in the Serbian Government in charge of EU integration. The Commissioner and the Minister agreed that respect for the citizens' rights and maximum transparency in the work of public authorities were an essential prerequisite for further democratisation and faster integration with the EU. The parties concurred it was necessary to improve the process of further harmonisation of the Serbian law with relevant EU standards, while at the same time making it more expedient and sound, emphasising that the Government should make better use of the impulses it received from independent oversight bodies in the process.

In this context, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic said:

 The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection has sent a letter to the Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Policy, highlighting a number of issues in connection with personal data processing in labour relations and calling for systemic solutions for those issues to be adopted as soon as possible.

The Commissioner reminded that the Government of the Republic of Serbia had adopted a Personal Data Protection Strategy more than 3 years ago, but no Action Plan had been adopted to implement that Strategy and to define the activities, the implementing agencies in charge of specific tasks and the timeframe for its implementation, adding that a prominent position in the never-to-be Action Plan should have been given to personal data processing in labour relations.

Emphasising that the pending amendments to labour legislation would provide a golden opportunity to systemically address all outstanding issues, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic also said:

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection called on the Minister of Economy to repeal and bring in compliance with the law certain provisions of the recently passed Bylaw on the Manner of Keeping and the Content of the Register of Public Contracts.

The Commissioner expects, encouraged by the recent meeting with Minister Radulovic, in which the two parties reached a high level of consensus on the need for and importance of full, maximum transparency of all activities that involve management of public money and resources, that the Ministry will bring the said Bylaw in compliance with the law without delay.

Emphasising that paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 11 of the Bylaw, which should provide for optimum transparency in private dealings between public and private sectors and in concessions, constitute an attempt to regulate a subject matter which the Constitution states can be regulated only by a law, and indeed to do so contrary to the law, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic said:

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Sabic has sent a letter to the Government of Serbia on the Draft Regulation on the establishment of single register of public employees, indicating some open issues and concerns in relation to this act.

In this regard, the Commissioner stated the following: