News

On November 26, 2025, a seminar on improving access to environmental information was held in Zrenjanin, organized by the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection and the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

The seminar brought together representatives of public authorities, the civil sector, and journalists to discuss the legal framework and obligations of public authorities regarding the provision of environmental information, the role of the Commissioner in the complaint procedure, and practices and challenges in access to environmental information.

Most of the day was dedicated to the practical work of seminar participants preparing specific requests for access to environmental information, and learning how to respond to such requests using practical examples.

The workshop was facilitated by Slavoljupka Pavlović, Acting Assistant Secretary General, Sector for Complaints and Enforcement in the Field of Access to Information, and Dina Đorđević, journalist and Editor-in-Chief of the Center for Investigative Journalism of Serbia (CINS).

Commissioner Milan Marinović, Deputy Commissioner Sanja Unković, and eight Heads of Department from Personal Data Protection Sectors and International Cooperation in the Commissioner's Office, as part of a study trip organized by the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Serbia, are staying in the Austrian capital, Vienna, from 24 to 28 November. Five representatives of the Ministry of Interior are also participating in this trip, along with the representatives of the Commissioner's Office.

On the first day, they visited the headquarters of the OSCE Mission to Serbia and other international organizations, where, in a very welcoming atmosphere, the Head of the Mission, Professor Žarko Obradović, introduced them to the OSCE and the OSCE Mission to Serbia's organization and functioning. A special part of the discussion was dedicated to the role and importance of the OSCE in today's times of difficult challenges to global safety.

On October 29, 2025, a training was held organized by the Serbian Association of Employers, in which employers from the broader Ruma vicinity participated. The entire event aimed to familiarize attendees with the challenges of applying artificial intelligence in employment relations, and Marko Milošević and Marin Cetinić, on behalf of the Commissioner's Office, highlighted the most common employment relations data processing practices, the most common errors, and risks identified so far. The international regulatory framework for artificial intelligence (AI), the domestic strategy, and regulations in the field of employment relations were also reviewed. The emphasis was on understanding Article 38 of the Law on the Prohibition of Automated Decision-Making, as AI must be understood as only a tool for analysis, whereas a human being makes the final decision. The AI error examples presented by our representatives in the area of ​​personal data processing also inspired the employees in the IT sector to point out the frequent situations in which this tool made mistakes, which was a good way to remind those present of the principle of data accuracy.

In continuation of the cooperation with the Employers' Union, a training session on Free Access to Information and Personal Data Protection was organized on November 18 for employees of the Trayal company in Kruševac. As a government body, in terms of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, there was great interest in resolving dilemmas in this area, and special emphasis was placed on the thin line between access to information and data protection, i.e., which personal data are protected and which are published when responding to requests for access to information of public importance. In the area of personal data protection, the greatest interest was in the use of video surveillance to monitor compliance with working hours, where the purpose of data processing by these technical means and the Commissioner's positions on this issue were outlined.

The Commissioner, in cooperation with the Serbian Association of Employers, has held several training sessions with various employers in Serbia, with more to follow in the upcoming period as a result of this cooperation. At the end of October, two training sessions were also held, one for new employees in the Commissioner's Office, and a webinar for Data Protection Officers who expressed interest in training sessions in this field.

On 20 November 2025, Commissioner Milan Marinović and Deputy Commissioner Sanja Unković held a meeting with Director Marina Dražić and her associates at the National Academy of Public Administration premises. At the meeting, which took place in an extremely constructive spirit, it was agreed to intensify the so far very successful cooperation between the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection with the National Academy of Public Administration in the upcoming period, and to implement this cooperation by planning and conductiong training courses at the National Academy of Public Administration, both with accredited lecturers from the Commissioner's Office as lecturers for both areas of law protected by the Commissioner, and as well training courses to be attended by employees from the Commissioner's Office. To ensure even more efficient and closer cooperation between these institutions, it was agreed to sign a Cooperation Agreement between the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection and the National Academy of Public Administration at the earliest opportunity.