The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection completed the planned preventative supervision of the implementation and execution of the Law on Personal Data Protection at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia. Successive submission of records containing results of performed supervision to all organizational units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs included in the supervision has been completed today.
Emphasizing that it was an activity which had not been performed in Serbia before and which should give significant contribution to the improvement of personal data protection, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic also said the following:
“Such supervision action has not been performed in Serbia before the Law on Personal Data Protection took effect. It is without precedent both in terms of volume and intensity in the Commissioner’s practice so far.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs was selected for supervision because it is undoubtedly among entities with the highest number of personal data files (the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported to the Commissioner’s register 97 different data files) which it processes in various manners. The supervision included 24 organizational units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (from the Cabinet of the Minister to the Department for Emergency Management) and a total of 61 of their subordinate organizational units, and almost all available Commissioner’s human resources had to be engaged in the procedure.
The activities were initiated as early as in late 2010 and they continued until late 2011, when the supervision procedure itself was completed. After that, the records were prepared, which showed the overall situation and problems regarding personal data protection. It was a time-consuming task, the record include more than 550 pages. Taking into account different findings and specific operating conditions of certain organizational units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, records prepared both by departments and by lower organizational units were developed and submitted - a total of 24 records.
According to the law, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the said organizational units are expected to respond to the findings of the Commissioner’s authorized officials on the status of established personal data files and the most important aspects of their processing and protection, after which the Commissioner will, where necessary, take other measures according to his legal powers.
Officials at the Ministry of Internal Affairs cooperated fully with the Commissioner’s associates during supervision, they made available all necessary documentation and provided unhindered access to all relevant databases, so I expect they will show they are fully prepared to eliminate shortcomings observed during supervision in further cooperation.”
