Source: Blic
After the meeting he had yesterday with the Minister of Justice Ms Snezana Malovic, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance Rodoljub Sabic still insists that restrictions on providing information to this institution for security reasons included in the Personal Data Protection Bill should be deleted.
- In my opinion, the idea that the Commissioner can be denied access to information he needs in the exercise of his duties for security reasons seems highly controversial, to say the least. If this idea is based on someone's assumption that the current incumbent is e.g. a threat to government or public security, I think the bare minimum of accountability would require the backers of the Bill to publicly present their case, supporting it of course with proper evidence. If, on the other hand, these security doubts have anything to do with the institution of the Commissioner as such, I believe it would be reasonable to entrust another authority with the duty of protecting this right - said Mr.Sabic.- If these authorities are vested with the authority to freely, at their sole discretion, deny the competent authority - no matter which - access to relevant information, that would leave ample scope for circumventing this safeguard - said Mr.Sabic.
