Press Releases - Archive

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance continues his activities on updating of the catalogue of public authorities, which has been published on his web site www.poverenik.org.rs several months ago. The catalogue, which includes about 11,000 subjects with the status of public authority, will, in addition to the names, head offices and addresses, include also the new addresses of electronic presentations of those authorities which have them after the shift from .yu to .rs domain names later this month.    

The Commissioner for Information said that several statements made by the Director of the Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) to a number of media in the last couple of days could create a dilemma in the minds of at least one part of the public, not only as regards the contents of the Commissioner's request in connection with the EUROSONG budget, but, more importantly, as regards the reach and contents of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and the rights of the public in general. Saying that he could best disperse with these dilemmas by just appearing for several minutes on the “public” service program (in an interview with the Director of RTS or individually), but adding that this was impossible given the current editorial policy of the “public” service, Commissioner Rodoljub Šabic gave the following statement:

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, Rodoljub Šabić, reacted to an interview given by Aleksandar Tijanić, the director of RTS (Radio Television of Serbia), published in the daily paper ''Večernje novosti'' on Monday, June 2. In relation to the part of the interview in which Tijanić commented on the order given by the Commissioner for the RTS to make public, i.e. to forward to the Committee of jurists for human rights, the EUROSONG budget, which it had requested, Rodoljub Šabić said:

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, Mr. Rodoljub Šabić, says that the constantly large inflow of complaints submitted by citizens, press and others speaks for itself about the unwillingness of most public authorities to change their attitude towards the right of the public to free access to information held by public authorities. Recalling that in the first four and a half months of this year the Commissioner had received more than 560 complaints and that it clearly showed the Government had to change its attitude towards this right enshrined in the Constitution and law much faster, Commissioner Rodoljub Šabić added: