Regarding the notification of a certain number of media representatives that some government bodies, upon requests to access certain information, demand that they prove the interest, that is, to explain the reasons for their interest the Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic made the following statement:

„According to the Law, justified interest of the public to know, in principle, exists regarding all information at the government bodies disposal. The claimant for the information does not have to prove that they have interest to learn certain information, nor to prove that such interest is justified. According to the Article 15, Paragraph 4 of the Law, a government body must not demand that the claimant states their reason for submitting such a claim.

If a government body denies the claimant access to certain information, it must prove that this is justifiable in that particular case for reasons of protection of a more prevailing interest. This can be reasons of safety or protection of the country, revealing the culprits of a criminal act, legal proceedings, protecting privacy or other, in any case, reasons explicitly stipulated by the law.

It needs to be specifically pointed out to the fact that Article 4 of the Law stipulates that a government body must never deny access to information related to health protection of the population and environment protection. Thus, in relation to such information, a government body is not allowed to prove that the public has no justifiable interest in learning about it.”