A number of citizens and media representatives have addressed the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance regarding problems that can be summed down to the question - Is the one who seeks information of public importance obliged to pay a fee for certain expenses?   

With reference to this, the Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic made the following announcement:

„ The Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance stipulates that the notification on whether a government body possesses certain information is free of charge. The Law is explicit when it stipulates that the insight into the document comprising the sought information is also free of charge.

An obligation to pay the necessary expenses is stipulated for making and delivery of a copy of the document. The amount of the fee is to be calculated according to the fee sheet prescribed by the Serbian Government.

The Government has still not comprised this fee sheet. As the Commissioner, I initiated passing this regulation a few months ago and it is my hope that the Government fulfills its legal obligation in due time. Until then, absence of fees should not pose an impediment to the lawful rights of the citizens and the media. With that in mind, it is my recommendation to the government body to bear in mind that the possible fee should not exceed the amount of the necessary costs.

As for the media, especially interesting provision is certainly Article 17, paragraph 4 of the Law which stipulates that journalists, if they seek a copy of a document in order to do their job, are free from paying any fee. The same provision of the Law frees from charge human rights protection societies when they seek a copy in order to fulfill the aims of the society, that is anyone who seeks information related to health protection of the population and environment protection.“