Issue of access to information with the authority's opinion
Positions and opinions relating to the application of the law provided by the authorities upon the request of a person or expressed through adopted individual decisions are, undoubtedly, very important pieces of information of public importance. This is the reason why they must be made available to everybody even without a specific request. This is mandated by the provision on the publication of information bulletin referred to in Article 39 of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, as well as Section 2, paragraph 2, sub-paragraph 11) of the Instructions for the Publication of Information Bulletin on the Activities of a Government Authority ("Official Gazette of the RS" no.57/05), under which the issued authorities' opinions, decisions, appeals etc. shall be a mandatory element of the contents of the information bulletin on the government authority's activities.
By way of the body`s action in accordance with the above legal obligation and publishing of the above types of information in its activity information bulletin and its regular updating according to the provisions of the Instructions, the issue of the abuse of obtained information for commercial purposes by publishing companies and the media, as applicants for information, would be rendered irrelevant. At the same time, the principle of equality in access to information of public importance would be honoured.
(The answer is contained in the letter sent to a government body, no. 011-00-7/2006-03 of 29.03.2006.)
