News

Today, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection attended the official reception of the eighth generation of students of the Environmental Legal Clinic of the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law as one of the keynote speakers, stressing the importance of the availability of information of public importance regarding the endangerment and protection of the environment. On that occasion, the Dean of the Faculty of Law, professor Zoran Mirković, and the Commissioner agreed that the exquisite cooperation between the Faculty of Law and the Commissioner should be continued and deepened for the general benefit.

On October 18, 2022, the commissioner gave an introductory lecture at the 24th Conference of Obrazovni Informator in Zlatibor on the topic of the current situation in the areas of access to information of public importance and personal data protection, with special reference to the obligation of public authorities to, by November 16, 2022, create and publish information booklet on their work.

Concerning the media news about the illegal personal data processing that was allegedly carried out in the Palilula Health Center, the Commissioner initiated the inspection supervision procedure. Inspectors of the Commissioner's Office will go out on the spot today to determine the factual situation and establish whether there has been a violation and breach of protective measures for patients' personal data. After that, the Commissioner will issue a statement on the results of the inspection supervision.

Commissioner Milan Marinović, Deputy Commissioner Sanja Unković, and Acting Assistant Secretary-General in the Sector for Complaints and Enforcement in the field of Access to Information, Slavoljupka Pavlović, are currently participating in the Third International Conference "Initiative 2020" in Struga, North Macedonia. Besides them, the participants in this Conference are representatives of authorities engaged in the protection of the right to free access to information of public importance from the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

All participants agreed that the future of the realization of this right lies not in a restrictive but in a proactive approach to the achievement of greater information about the work of authorities through increasing its visibility by publishing more information about their work.

Also, it was concluded that the countries from these areas that have not yet done so should ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents (the so-called "Tromso Convention") as soon as possible as the first and most important international document in the field of access to information of public importance.