The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection sent a request to the Serbian Government today, asking it to comply with its duties under Article 28 paragraph 4 of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and enforce the decision passed by the Commissioner in the procedure pursuant to a complaint filed against the Serbian Export Credit and Insurance Agency in which he ordered the requested information of public importance to be provided.

The decision relates to copies of agreements and amendments signed by that Agency with Pink International Company between 1 January 2013 and 3 December 2015, i.e. documents which can show whether Pink International Company had performed its obligations under the said agreements and, if so, when, as well as decisions pursuant to which the Agency had entered into those agreements and documents which name any other legal entities with which the Agency had signed agreements in the same period, with specified dates, purpose (export insurance, short-term loans, factoring or issuing of guarantees), amounts and applicable terms and conditions (repayment periods, interest etc.).

This decision, just as in all other similar cases, was based on the view that the public in principle had an absolutely legitimate interest to know about any disposal of public funds. It is the responsibility of the public authorities which manage such funds to make this information available on a proactive basis or at the requests of citizens and the media in all situations, especially where there are publicly voiced concerns about the lawfulness of operations, as had been done in this specific case by the Anti-Corruption Council of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Before contacting the Government, the Commissioner had imposed fines in the total amount of RSD 200,000 in an administrative execution procedure pursuant to the request filed by a journalist of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia and the Centre for Investigative Reporting of Serbia.

As the Serbian Export Credit and Insurance Agency did not comply with the order even after paying the fines, although the order was binding and final under the law, the Commissioner asked the Government to enforce the decision using means of direct coercion in accordance with its statutory duty.