The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance in his letter addressed to the Government of the Republic of Serbia indicated that within the short period of time, following the draft Law on Police, another law came into the procedure of the National Assembly, proposed by the Government of the RS, the statutory solutions of which are in contravention with solutions set forth under the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance. In his press release of 26 October 2005 Commissioner said:
„Like similar laws in democratic world, our Law also provides for that citizen, requiring information, does not have to prove his importance about it.
Under provisions, such as the one of the Art. 5 of the draft Law on Police and Art. 153 of the draft Law on Infractions, the obligation of proving "justifiable" or "legal, or "legally based" or "reasonable importance", may cause unnecessary confusion, thus opening possibilities for the restriction of the rights of citizens.
It would be much better those proposals on new laws, relating to access to information, contain provisions addressing the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, instead of controversial solutions. It is difficult to understand the logic behind proposing of such solutions, since there could be no doubt that in case of conflict the priority must be given to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, as lex specialis for the issues in question. Besides, the Declaration on Availability of Information, jointly adopted in December 2004 by Special Referee of the United Nations for Freedom of Opinion and Expression, representative of the OESC for freedom of media, and Special Referee of the Organisation of American States for Freedom of Expression, explicitly states, that in case of contravention, the Law on Availability of Information has priority over the all other law.
All the government bodies have to contribute to affirmation of democratic principles contained within the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, in particular the Government and National Assembly".
From the press release of the Commissioner of 26 October 2005
