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Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Milan Marinović, Deputy Commissioner Sanja Unković, and Head of the Department for Normative Affairs in the Field of Economy and Finance, Labor and Public Services Dragana Stojković participate in the Regional Round Table on Business Compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the Western Balkans. The round table is being realized on December 5 and 6, 2023 within the framework of the "Regional Cooperation for European Integration" (RCEI) and "Digital Instruments for Economic Management in the Western Balkans" projects, which are implemented by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

The round table, which the representatives of supervisory bodies for personal data protection from the region attend, focuses on the importance and benefits of business compliance with the GDPR, which has been implemented in the countries of the European Union since May 25, 2018, and includes the personal data processing by Data Controllers and Processors outside the EU who offer goods and services to natural persons in the territory of the EU or monitor their activities in the territory of the EU.

Among the topics discussed by the participants are the transfer of personal data to other countries, the security and monitoring of sensitive personal data under the GDPR, the impact assessment of processing actions on personal data protection, the exchange of experiences and good practices in the field of data protection, as well as the consideration of opportunities for regional cooperation and identifying needs that could be the subject of future GIZ projects in this region.

On November 30, 2023, representatives of the Commissioner's Office held a Roundtable in Novi Sad on the right to access information of public importance and the right to personal data protection. Previous roundtables were in Bujanovac, Novi Pazar, and Niš.

"A Quick Guide to Free Access to Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection" (version in Serbian only) was presented on this occasion.

The Commissioner organized these roundtables in cooperation with the OSCE Mission in Serbia and the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, to bring the aforementioned rights closer to representatives of local self-governments and the media.

Subotica, November 23, 2023

The "Importance of Access to Environmental Information for the Improvement and Protection of the Environment" workshop was held in Subotica, organized by the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia. The workshop was also an opportunity to present the current situation in the field of environmental information availability and highlight the new powers of the Commissioner in situations where environmental information is refused to the public and what are the obstacles in the realization of the right to access environmental information, that is, how to overcome them and improve the situation in that field.

The workshop brought together representatives of the Academic Community, Public Authorities dealing with issues of environmental protection at the state and local level, all interested members of the public, representatives of the Commissioner's Office, and Civil Society Organizations.

On this occasion, the publication "Exercising the Right to Access Environmental Information" (version in Serbian language only) was presented by Slavoljupka Pavlović, Acting Assistant Secretary-General in the Sector for Complaints and Enforcement in the Field of Access to Information related to the first pillar of the Aarhus Convention, which is included in the publication.

It was pointed out that one of the main problems is the high percentage of administrative silence of the authorities regarding requests for access to environmental information. Also, there is a high percentage of non-implemented decisions of the Commissioner's orders to disclose environmental information. Thanks to the amendments to the Law and the unblocking of the mechanisms for the enforcement of the Commissioner's decisions, that problem has been eliminated.

At the end of the workshop, the actors concluded that without access to environmental information, there is no public participation in decision-making as one of the necessities for a good definition of public policies, and the adoption of strategies and appropriate measures for environmental protection.

The event is realized within the Project "Application of the Aarhus Convention and Access to Information of Public Importance".

In Strasbourg from 15.11. to 17.11.2023, the 45th plenary session of the Consultative Committee for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data (Convention 108) was held in the organization of the Council of Europe, in which the representative of the Commissioner's Office, Marin Cetinić, the deputy representative of the Republic of Serbia in the aforementioned committee and Senior Advisor in the Sector for Education and Certification. The main topics of the 45th plenary session were: interpretation of Article 11 of the modernized Convention 108; processing of personal data in regulations governing elections and voting in the area of voter registration and authentication; cooperation with other bodies of the Council of Europe, entities and observers; as well as consideration of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in the area of personal data protection. Council of Europe Data Protection Commissioner Jean-Philippe Walter spoke about further development and activities in the field of data protection. In his address to the Consultative Committee, the representative of Serbia stated, among other things, that in May 2020 the Republic of Serbia ratified the Protocol on Amendments to the Convention on the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, as well as that the Commissioner in his work, when adopting certain decisions, applies the provisions of that Protocol.

A special discussion took place on the interpretation of Article 11 of the modernized Convention 108, the European Data Act, and also the processing of personal data arising from neurology and neurotechnology, as the next topic that the Committee will deal with within the scope of its work plan in the period from 2022 to 2025. Before the end of the 45th plenary session, the member states elected a new member of the Bureau of the Consultative Committee, where the representative of Finland was elected by the majority of votes.