Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection has sent a letter to the Protector of Citizens informing him about multiple violations of the law and the right to know by the Ministry of Economy regarding the request to make available to the public the Agreement on the Provision of Management Services between the Company "Zelezara Smederevo" and the Company "HPK Engineering".

Under the Ruling of the Commissioner dated 29 June 2015 the Ministry of Economy was to forward to the organization ''Transparency Serbia'' a copy of the Agreement on the Provision of Management and Consulting Services, entered into on 21 March 2015, between the Republic of Serbia, Company ''Zelezara Smederevo'' d.o.o, HPK MANAGEMENT d.o.o. from Belgrade and HPK ENGINEERING B.V. from Amsterdam, Holland, after having previously protected the personal data.

Despite the fact that the Commissioner's rulings are final, binding and enforceable under the Law, the Ministry has failed to act upon the orders of the Commissioner, and it has failed to do so even after having been imposed two fines totaling 200,000.00 RSD.

The Ruling was not enforced even after the Commissioner on 31 August 2015 requested the Government of the Republic of Serbia to ensure the enforcement pursuant to its statutory obligations.

Since the actions of responsible persons in the Ministry of Economy contain elements of several offenses punishable under the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, on 27 July 2015, the Commissioner informed the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government (Administrative Inspectorate) thereof, in order to file a motion for instituting criminal proceedings against the responsible persons since it is the authority responsible for the oversight over the implementation of the Law. There is no information that the Ministry, or the Inspectorate, has taken any action in this regard.

According to the Commissioner, such conduct of the Ministry, which contravenes the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance on several accounts, therefore contravenes the fundamental principles of good governance, which is why, regardless of the (in) action of other competent authorities he expects that the proceedings will be instituted and that measures falling within the competences of the Protector of Citizens will be undertaken.