Press Releases

The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, fulfilling his legal obligation, submitted to the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia the Report on the Implementation of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and the Law on Personal Data Protection in 2021.

The report was also submitted to the Government of the Republic of Serbia and published on the Commissioner's website.

On the occasion of the text published in the daily newspaper "Danas" no. 8909-8910 on February 19-20, 2022, on page number 11, entitled "Police illegally use identification cameras" the Commissioner informs the public that parts of the statement, published on the website of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection on February 18, 2022, regarding the supervision carried out by the Commissioner's authorized persons in the Ministry of Interior, and on suspicion of using facial recognition technology by the members of the Ministry of Interior during the protests held on November 27 and December 4 last year, were conveyed mostly correctly but that the title above the text is extremely incorrect, untrue and does not correspond to the true state of affairs determined by the published supervision.

In this regard, the Commissioner emphasizes that the real truth is that the authorized persons of the Commissioner who performed the supervision did not determine that the face recognition technology was used by the police during the above-mentioned events.

On suspicion of the use of Facial Recognition Technology by the Ministry of Interior during the protests held on November 27 and December 4 last year, and in connection with misdemeanor warrants issued to protesters, The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection conducted a supervision procedure against the Ministry of the Interior.

The supervision procedure was conducted by the Commissioner on January 13, 2022. at the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior, as well as in the Belgrade Police Administration, during which the authorized persons of the Commissioner took statements from the representatives of the Ministry of Interior and made a report, with insight into the necessary documentation.

The Commissioner reminds citizens, media representatives, citizen associations, and public authorities that on Thursday, February 17, 2022, the implementation of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance will begin, which brought significant innovations and changes in the implementation field of one of these basic human rights.