News

Regarding the new privacy policy of the Meta company, which applies to users of this company's platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Messanger, etc.) in the Republic of Serbia from June 26, 2024, which the said company did not inform our users about, including its users' personal data processing for the development and improvement of artificial intelligence, and also regarding the unauthorized personal data processing by X Corp. and Twitter International Unlimited Company, also used for development and improvement of artificial intelligence, carried out without notice on the territory of the whole of Europe, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection informs the public about the following:

• Activities aiming to establish contacts with the mentioned companies in the United States of America are underway to remind them once again of their obligation to designate representatives in the Republic of Serbia, under the Law on Personal Data Protection, that is, to standardize the treatment of citizens of the Republic of Serbia with the citizens of the European Union, bearing in mind that the use of the personal data of the citizens of the European Union by Meta for these purposes has hence been postponed.

• Also underway are the activities aiming to establish contacts with the Data Protection Commission of the Republic of Ireland as a body for personal data protection in whose territorial jurisdiction the companies Meta Platforms Ireland Inc. and Twitter International Unlimited Company are located as Personal Data Processors.

• Given that the legal framework for personal data protection of the Republic of Serbia as a candidate for membership in the European Union is fully harmonized with the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (GDPR), the Office of the Commissioner will address the same objective to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), which brings together all supervisory bodies for the personal data protection of the EU member states and in which the Republic of Serbia has the observer status.

• Commissioner Milan Marinović and Deputy Commissioner Sanja UnkovićIt plan to hold a joint meeting with the Director of the Agency for Personal Data Protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the President and members of the Council of the Agency for Personal Data Protection and Free Access to Information of Montenegro, on September 4, 2024, in Sarajevo, to coordinate joint action of these three supervisory authorities for personal data protection to find a permanent solution to this problem.

On August 9, 2024, Commissioner Milan Marinović and Deputy Commissioner Sanja Unković met with H.E. Christian Ebner, Austrian Ambassador to the Republic of Serbia, and Mr. George Stav, Justice Attaché.

In a constructive conversation, the Commissioner introduced the high officials of the Republic of Austria to the history and competencies of the Commissioner as an independent state body and the challenges faced by this institution in its work.

On July 31, 2024, the anniversary of the work of the Commissioner's Office in Niš was marked. Also, from July 29 to August 2, 2024, several trainings were held in the field of Access to Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection for students of the Faculty of Law in Niš, as part of student internships. The trainings were held by: the head of the Office in Niš, Tamara Bojanić, as well as colleagues from the Commissioner's Office in Belgrade, Marko Milošević, Marin Cetinić, and Ivan Trišović. In the continuation of the internship, students will have the opportunity to become familiar with the creation of Information Booklets and other segments of the work of the Commissioner's Office, through online training and cooperating with representatives from the Commissioner's Office in Belgrade.

Representatives of the Commissioner’s Office and the Ministry of Interior (MUP) in cooperation with the OSCE Mission in Serbia continued training courses for members of the MUP. From July 23 to 25, 2024, three new trainings were held for employees of the Police Departments (PD) in Čačak, Užice, and Prijepolje. Emina Kovačević from the Commissioner’s Office – Head of the Department for Supervision over Data Protection in Public Authorities, Territorial Autonomy Authorities, Local Self-government Units, and Dragan Obradović from the MUP Secretariat held the training courses. The impressive interest of MUP members in Personal Data Protection training was confirmed with 237 participants in the above-said three PDs, to be specific: 94 participants in Čačak PD, 65 in Užice PD, and 74 in Prijepolje PD. The largest number of doubts and questions from the relevant training courses was related to acting on citizens’ requests and whether consent can be used as a legal basis for acting on, the use of the MUP information system, and when it is justifiable to use the information system during person checking. Also, through conversations and examples from practice, the difference was distinguished for MUP members when they are acting in general, and when in the so-called special mode of data processing.