News

All public authorities referred to in Article 3 of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance are obliged to submit Annual Reports for 2024 on actions taken to implement the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", No. 120/04, 54/07, 104/09, 36/10 and 105/21).

Public authorities can submit Annual Reports for 2024 from January 1 to January 31, 2025, via the Portal for Submitting Annual Reports of Public Authorities https://izvestaji.poverenik.rs/.

 

Commissioner's Office

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection received an official study visit from representatives of the Agency for Personal Data Protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina - the Sector for Supervision Inspection, Complaints, and the Main Registry: Samira Čampar – Assistant Director, Radovan Kešelj – Head of the Department for Supervision Inspection and Complaints, Ismet Mehanović – Head of the Department for the Main Registry and IT, Begzada Avdukić, Emir Muratović, and Zdravko Logor – Inspection Supervision advisors, Vanja Pavlović and Marijana Sentić – Senior Associates for Complaints.

During the three-day visit, the representatives of the AZLP were presented with the most important parts of the Law on Personal Data Protection, a comparison between the LPDP and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the impact assessment of processing operations, the legitimate interest in personal data processing, the data protection officer, as well as some of the numerous innovations introduced by the current Law on Personal Data Protection. The representatives of the AZLP were acquainted with the practice and actions of the Supervision Sector of the Commissioner's Office, as well as the exercise of data subject rights. Also, the guests from Bosnia and Herzegovina were familiarized with how data can be transferred from the Republic of Serbia, and about misdemeanor liability in non-compliance cases with the LPDP. The presentations of the representatives of the Office of the Commissioner were accompanied by a constant active discussion and exchange of experiences, comparison of practices, and resolving doubts in individual cases regarding the ​​personal data protection field.

On the third day of the study visit, AZLP representatives attended, as special guests, the marking of the 20th jubilee since the adoption of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and the 15th jubilee since the adoption of the Law on Personal Data Protection, held at the Metropol Hotel in Belgrade.

At the end of the study visit, it was concluded that the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection and the Agency for Personal Data Protection from Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue to exchange experiences and examples of good practice in the field of personal data protection, as well as to continue the previous good cooperation to mutual satisfaction, contributing to the increment of regional personal data protection cooperation.

From 5 to 6 December 2024, two trainings were held for employees of the Police Departments (PDs) of Sombor and Subotica. The trainings were held by Marin Cetinić from Sector the Education and Certification of the Commissioner's Office and Dragan Obradović from the Secretariat of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Once again, the Ministry of Interior's great interest in personal data protection was confirmed by the attendance of 100 police officers, mostly chief officers from the PD Sombor and PD Subotica.

After pointing out the basic principles of personal data processing, emphasis was placed on distinguishing data between the so-called "general" and "special" regimes and on the importance of implementing adequate data protection measures, such as using log files and strong passwords. During the training, numerous doubts were resolved regarding the proper application of the LPDP.

Also, on Friday, December 6, 2024, accredited lecturers of the Commissioner's Office Sofija Radojicic and Aleksandra Lakicevic held a training on Access to Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection for employees of the company Dipos, Belgrade.

The main reason was to raise awareness about the proper application of these laws in light of the increased number of requests for access to information filed through lawyers with power of attorney and the challenges in the proper application of personal data protection.

On December 9 and 10, 2024, two roundtables were held as part of the public debate on the Draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, the first in the hall of the City Assembly of Niš, and the second in the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade.

In addition to the members of the Special Working Group for the Preparation of the Draft Law, which includes the Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Government Jelena Žarić Kovačević, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance Milan Marinović with the Assistant Secretary General of the Commissioner's Office Slavoljupka Pavlović, representatives of the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance and the Republic Secretariat for Legislation, the round tables were also attended by representatives of non-governmental organizations, who discussed the solutions contained in the draft law with the members of the Special Working Group.

The public debate on the Draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance is on until December 23, 2024.