Commissioner has been requested to give an opinion whether lists of the city administration employees, their jobs and salaries may be made available at the request of an applicant, having in mind the provisions of Article 14 of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Interest relating to the protection of privacy.

In the response to the request, among other things, it is stated that it is the Commissioner's general attitude is that the data on who is employed or engaged in a public authority, in which jobs and for what wage should be publicly available data, as they are related to the exercise of public authority, i.e. their activity on behalf of authorities, and not to private life, and that they are paid for that with public money.  Such attitude is based on the exemptions to the right to privacy pursuant to Article 14, paragraph 1, item 2 of the said Law.

It is also stated that a public authority has an obligation to make such data publicly available proactively and without a request for access to information, pursuant to the Guidelines for the Preparation and Publication of Information Booklets of a State Authority (''Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia" No. 68/10)http://www.poverenik.org.rs/sr/pravni-okvir-pi/podzakonski-akti/947-uputstvo-za-izradu-i-objavljivanje-informatora-o-radu-drzavnog-organa-i-komentar-uputstva.html adopted by the Commissioner pursuant to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance.

Bearing in mind that the documents containing the said information, especially payrolls certainly include other personal data which the public should not have an interest to know, prior to access to these documents, it is necessary to protect and make unavailable the personal data access to which may constitute a violation of the right to privacy, such as for example the bank account data, the information of past work, deductions from wages for child support, loan, home address of the employee, PIN and pursuant to Article 12 of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, which is in accordance with the principle of proportionality regulated under Article 8 of the Personal Data Protection Law (''Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia" Nos. 97/08 and 104/09-other Law, 68/12-CC Decision and 107/12), it is stated in the response.

From the Commissioner's response No.  011-00-00832/2012-03 dated December 12, 2012.