The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection warned all of the responsible ones once again that it would be very bad if, on all of the efforts directed at organizing and conducting the selection for national minority national councils which are important for the affirmation of democratic standards, a shadow of personal data protection right infringement was cast. The Commissioner asked all the responsible ones to take all the necessary measures in order to make sure that this does not occur when compiling special voting lists for the selection of the national minority national councils.

The Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic stated the following in relation to this:

In connection with yesterday’s announcement of the High Judicial Council that it “never received a request from the Judges’ Association of Serbia for access to information and that it informed the Commissioner for Information about that”, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection said that the announcement certainly does not contribute towards provision of objective information to the public.

The Commissioner considers that efforts of all responsible persons should be aimed at making all relevant information on the procedure of general appointment of judicial officials available to the public instead at unnecessary public polemics over this issue. But taking into account that the announcement of the High Judicial Council indirectly implies possible negligence or omission in Commissioner’s work, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic considers it is his duty to point to the following:

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection passed today a decision on a complaint submitted by Judges’ Association of Serbia against the High Judicial Council for denial of access to information on general appointment of judicial officials. The Commissioner noted that the complaint was grounded and passed a decision ordering the High Judicial Council to make the requested information available to the Judges’ Association of Serbia.

Furthermore, persons authorized by the Commissioner for Information will today or tomorrow at the latest inspect and directly examine relevant documents of the High Judicial Council in connection with the publicly stated concerns that data from the SIA were processed and used in the appointment of judicial officials.

In connection with that, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic also said the following:

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection submitted today to the Constitutional Court of Serbia the Motion to establish Constitutionality of the provisions of Articles 12, 13 and 14 of the Law on Personal Data Protection. The Commissioner requested from the Constitutional Court to establish that those provisions were not compliant with the Constitution saying that implementation of the disputable provisions of the Law could have adverse effect on citizens’ rights enshrined in the Constitution.

In connection with that, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic also said the following:

On occasion of 28^th January which is the Data Protection Day in EU and CE, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection has estimated that the day, i.e. the 29^th anniversary of the adoption of the fundamental international document in this field - the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, is an opportunity to be reminded that as a state, which has accepted the Convention, as well as the Additional Protocol to the Convention, we still have a lot to do to bring the situation in this field to the level of European standards.

In a conversation, with NGO ‘’Privatnost Srbija’’ (Privacy Serbia), Rodoljub Sabic, the Commissioner, has stated the following:

Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Rodoljub Sabic, has confirmed that he has received a complaint from the Serbian Association of Judges and a number of individual complaints with respect to withholding information on the procedure of choosing the judges and personal data processing in their reappointment procedure.  The Commissioner shall decide on complaints within the period of time defined under the law. In addition, the Commissioner shall, without delay, submit a proposal for an estimate of the constitutionality of certain articles of the Law on Personal Data Protection to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Serbia.

Rodoljub Sabic, Commisioner, has stated the following:

Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Rodoljub Sabic has invited all responsible persons to undertake whatever is necessary to prevent infringing of the rights on personal data protection in the procedure of forming special electoral register for election of National Councils for National Minorities.

The Commissioner evaluates that it would be really bad that efforts directed towards affirming democratic rights of the national minorities should be overshadowed by infringement of human rights, but he also warns that there are indications pointing out that this could happen, because a certain number of citizens have contacted the Commissioner on that basis.

In relation to that, the Commissioner, Rodoljub Sabic, has also stated the following: