The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection has sent to the addresses of all the ministers in the Serbian Government a letter of warning about the obligations of the ministries towards the public under the Law on Free Access to Public Information,
The Commissioner has emphasized the responsibilities relating to proactive disclosure of information about the performance of public authorities in information booklets on the official electronic presentations of the authorities.
Having estimated the current state of information booklets on official presentations of the ministries as bad and very far from satisfactory, the Commissioner pointed out that the ministries should take actions to ensure compliance of the contents of information booklets with the law as soon as possible.
In this context the Commissioner, Rodoljub Sabic, has stated the following:
"The disclosure of an information booklet on official electronic presentations of public authorities, with the appropriate content and regular updates, is not a thing that depends on the good will of the people in charge of government authorities, but an obligation established by law and specified under appropriate Instructions passed by the Commissioner for Information to according to the law.
We cannot in any way be satisfied with the performance of the ministries. To some extent, the explanation for this can be found in the post-election issues related to the establishment of the Government, the problems resulting from the recomposition of certain ministries and the like, however the "justification" may not be valid for a much longer and this situation should be corrected as soon as possible.
As it is, regardless of the legal obligation, a number of ministries have no information booklets, and some of them have the information booklets of the old ministries on their electronic presentations, which contents fit neither the structure, the responsibilities nor the powers they have. Most of the information booklets were last updated several months ago, and only one ministry has an information booklet that is really being updated on a monthly basis.
Because of this situation I have reminded the ministers of their legal obligations and warned them that the failure to publish the Information Booklet in accordance with the law, among other things, constitutes an offense punishable by law.
Finally, regardless of the formal obligations, the ministries would have to invest maximum efforts in the promotion of the idea of transparency, as it is the condition to confirm the proclaimed anti-corruption policy of the Government. The faster and better publication of up-to-date information on the operation of public authorities, especially on the use of public funds and resources at all levels, is an essential condition for achieving results in the fight against corruption. The logical, irrefutable presumption is that the ministries, being the most important organs of executive power, should give a positive, not a negative example."
