Source: "Danas"

Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection speaks for “Danas” (Today)

INTERVIEW

Belgrade – In the last seven months 1,686 files have been registered based on complaints on the lack of respect for right to freely access information of public importance, while in the last year 1,865 of them have been registered. A year ago it was 1,517. That means that until the end of the year the number of files might be double the size from the previous year - points out for “Danas” Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection.

Source: "Blic"

A word plus

Commissioner for Information, Rodoljub Sabic has, after the first criminal charge submitted due to personal data abuse and falsifying citizens’ signatures during entry into special electoral register of one of the national minorities in New Belgrade, submitted another 12 criminal charges, and in the next few days still few more shall be submitted.

Source: "Blic"

When, at the end of last year, the National Assembly enacted the Law on Stipulating the Maximum Number of Employees in the Republic Administration and the Law on Stipulating the Maximum Number of Employees in the Local Administration, as the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, I welcomed the provisions of these laws, for they promote the transparency of government’s work. For example, Article 6 of the first Law states:

Source: "Blic"

Misuse  of minority lists

In the following few days, a dozen more criminal charges for misuse of special national minority voter lists will be submitted, Rodoljub Šabić, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, announced for “Blic”. Šabić warns that the instructions from the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, which have enabled the misuse, are still in force, and that it is, therefore, possible to expect new criminal offenses.

Source: "Politika"

Of approximately one hundred thousand of those who are required to register only a few dozen have applied for registration, says the Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic

There are almost no people who have not experienced receiving at their home address or private telephone number information that specific company wants them for a client, that they should buy a product or participate in the promotion of various products and offerings. And these are neither flyers that are inserted into mailboxes, nor random calls, the mail is addressed to the name and surname, and with calls the owner of the phone is asked for by mentioning his name.

Source: "Blic"

Sabic criticizes Ciplic
In  every case two criminal acts are committed - unauthorized processing of personal data and forgery
When it comes to elections for minority councils, in addition to problems with the Bosniak Council, the way of forming separate electoral rolls for the election of each of the national councils is equally interesting. Due to the instructions on the procedure of registration in the electoral roll compiled by the Ministry of Human and Minority Issues, a large number of fake entries in electoral rolls have been noticed, claims the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance Rodoljub Sabic.

Source: "Politika"

Some fifteen days ago one of our co-citizens A.H. has submitted a complaint to the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, due to infringing of the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Law. In that complaint he quoted that he has received a decision of City Administration for New Belgrade Municipality, by which he has been enrolled into a special voters registration list for one of the national minorities, although he has never submitted a request to be enrolled there. He quoted that he considers his data have been abused, and he asked the Commissioner to undertake measures in order to protect his rights.

Source: "Blic"

A couple of days ago, the Minister of Internal Affairs, has by adopting a suggestion of the Commissioner for Information, passed a decision that the Ministry of Internal Affairs should stop implementation of the „Rule Book on Official and State Secret and About the Method of Issuing and Relieving from Keeping Official and State Secret” and to replace this enactment with a new one without delay. Although this is about individual Rule Book which is in application only in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this thing has also broader and more general importance.

THE INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK Rodoljub Sabic, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance

The phone tapping of citizens without a judicial warrant, the most disputed provision of the Law on Electronic Communications, is nothing else but a method of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic. In his interview for “Alo!”, Rodoljub Sabic, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, warns that Serbia is facing a dilemma whether to legalize the methods of Milosevic’s regime or to adhere to the provisions of its own Constitution.

Serbia will not start resembling “Big Brother”, since it does not resemble it now. The provisions in the Law are not a novelty; they exist from before; they stem from the time of Milosevic. The only dilemma is whether or not we will legalize or change, improve, or adapt to the constitutional solution in Article 41, which clearly states that “the confidentiality of data is inviolable and that exceptions are allowed only upon a decision of a court of law.” In any case, I am for respecting the Constitution.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has recently, by adopting the Resolution on Protection of „Whistle Blowers“ (insiders, or as they are more frequently called „vigilantes“), invited all members to retest their criminal, labor-legal and media regulations and to secure protection to the people who due to public interest and opposing criminal and corruption come into clash with (in)formal rules on „secrets“ and therefore suffer unpleasant consequences.

We have, even without invitation, lots of reasons to take care of such people.  In relation to that, I shall quote “five light cases”, as I ironically call the group of cases in which the orders of the Commissioner have faced violent resistance and have been implemented with huge problems. The list could be longer, but there is no need for that for illustration purpose.