Organized by the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection and the OSCE Mission to Serbia, the conference “Access to Environmental Information: Improving the Implementation of the Legal Framework in the Republic of Serbia” was held on May 11, 2026, at the Hotel “Moskva” in Belgrade.

The gathering brought together high-ranking representatives of relevant national and local government bodies responsible for environmental protection, public health, natural resources, infrastructure, and the economy, representatives of independent institutions, as well as media and civil society representatives.

In the introductory part of the conference, the attendees were addressed by Ambassador Jan Braathu, Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, and Milan Marinović, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection.

During the working sessions, presentations were given by Slavoljupka Pavlović, Acting Assistant Secretary-General in the Sector for Appeals and Enforcement in the Field of Access to Information; Dina Đorđević, journalist and Editor-in-Chief of the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS); and Prof. Dr. Mirjana Drenovak Ivanović from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law.

The conference discussed the importance of environmental information, its role in environmental preservation, and its connection to the protection and endangerment of public health. Discussions covered the most common mistakes made by public authorities when processing requests for access to environmental information and how to rectify them, as well as how to deal with the challenges they face in their work. Furthermore, the relationship between journalists and public authorities during the process of exercising the right to access this information, and ways to improve it. Special emphasis was placed on the fact that the scope of access to environmental information is broader than the general access to information of public importance. Alternative ways to access environmental information were highlighted, using mechanisms prescribed by the Law on Consumer Protection, the Law on General Administrative Procedure, and others, while pointing to the practice of the European Court of Human Rights.

This conference is the first of three planned events this year within a project supported by the OSCE Mission to Serbia. The goal of these gatherings is to improve access to environmental information and provide support for the consistent fulfillment of legal obligations by public authorities. Future discussions will focus on specific steps to strengthen institutional accountability, reduce environmental risks, and improve cooperation between public authorities and the interested public, namely the civil sector and the media.