News

On Wednesday, February 7, representatives of the Office of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, accredited lecturers Nataša Mirjanić, Marin Cetinić, and Marko Milošević, held a training in the field of application of the Law on the Personal Data Protection and the Law on Free Access to Information from the Public importance for representatives of the faculties and institutes of the University of Novi Sad on the premises of the Rectorate. This was also an opportunity to present the work of the Office of the Commissioner in Novi Sad, and Ostoja Kalaba pointed out the potentiality of direct cooperation. Thirty people attended the training, and the lecture was followed by a discussion where numerous doubts regarding the application of both laws were resolved.

Today, the Office of the Commissioner, in cooperation with the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities and the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, held online training for representatives of local self-government units. The topic of today's training was the implementation of measures to improve the transparency of the work of Public Authorities from the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, specifically the creation of Information Booklets on their work and submission of Annual Reports. The training was attended by a large number of local self-government employees, who raised many questions regarding the practical application of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance.

In front of the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, Acting Assistant Minister Žarko Stepanović opened the training, and employees of the Sector for Reporting and Analytical Affairs of the Commissioner conducted the training and gave answers to the questions.

On January 26, 2024, the Commissioner hosted on his premises the participants of the Privacy School organized by Partners for Democratic Change. About twenty participants in this course had the opportunity to learn more about the developments of the legal framework for personal data protection in Serbia and the organizational structure of the Commissioner. The Head of the Education Department, Marko Milošević, acquainted the course participants with this development path, the position and competencies of the Commissioner. Presentation of characteristic surveillance cases showed the development of organizational, technical, and personnel measures and also the general raising of data protection awareness. Characteristic cases were presented by Senior Advisor Marin Cetinić, and in the discussion that followed, in addition to the said lecturer, Milan Tomanović, head of the Department in the Sector for Supervision of Personal Data Protection, took part.

The Commissioner once again reminds all public authorities that they are obliged to submit to the Commissioner an Annual Report for 2023 by January 31, 2024, regarding the actions taken to implement the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance.

Also, the Commissioner specifically reminds the temporary authorities, which currently exercise the powers of public authorities and that are about to be constituted due to the held elections, to submit the said reports for those authorities.

In the case that the authority fails to submit an Annual Report to the Commissioner, the Commissioner is authorized to submit a request for the initiation of misdemeanor proceedings against the head of that authority.

The Commissioner invites all authorities to fulfill their legal obligations promptly through the Portal for submitting annual reports of public authorities, at the web address: https://izvestaji.poverenik.rs.