National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia / Activities / Activity details
Monday, 15 December 2014
17th Sitting of the Culture and Information Committee
On 15 December, the Culture and Information Committee held a sitting in the form of a roundtable with the topic “10 years of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection”.
The sitting was opened by the Chairperson of the Culture and Information Committee, Vesna Marjanovic, who underlined the excellent cooperation between the National Assembly and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, pointing out that efforts should be focused on improving the efficiency of the control of the Government’s work and protection of human and minority rights.
Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic, Head of the European Union Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport, Head of OSCE Mission to Serbia Peter Burkhard and Director of the Open Society Foundation Serbia Jadranka Jelincic spoke of the importance of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection. They opined that the fact that the Commissioner’s activities are on the rise, that is that the number of civic complaints the institution receives, best attests to the Commissioner’s good work. The representatives of the international community said that the Commissioner’s work receives high praise and is a best practice example of how to fight for fundamental human rights and freedoms. They highlighted the results of a survey showing the growing civic trust in independent institutions as a significant fact.
Addressing the assembly, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Sabic said that the normative framework should be improved, stressing the importance of strategic approach to the area. As an example, Sabic said that though the Personal Data Protection Strategy was passed in 2010, there is still no action plan for its implementation. He also said that the cooperation with the National Assembly is good and the Commissioner’s proposals and suggestions have always been met with support by the MPs.
In addition to the Committee members, the sitting was attended by representatives of NGOs, Transparency Serbia, Informatics Society of Serbia, Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), Humanitarian Law Centre, Partners for Democratic Change Serbia and Network for Restitution who spoke of the importance of access to information of public importance and progress made in the area in the past several years. The representatives of the non-governmental sector also listed examples where the access to information of public importance had been denied by certain state bodies and other problems in the field.
The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Vesna Marjanovic.
Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic, Head of the European Union Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport, Head of OSCE Mission to Serbia Peter Burkhard and Director of the Open Society Foundation Serbia Jadranka Jelincic spoke of the importance of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection. They opined that the fact that the Commissioner’s activities are on the rise, that is that the number of civic complaints the institution receives, best attests to the Commissioner’s good work. The representatives of the international community said that the Commissioner’s work receives high praise and is a best practice example of how to fight for fundamental human rights and freedoms. They highlighted the results of a survey showing the growing civic trust in independent institutions as a significant fact.
Addressing the assembly, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Sabic said that the normative framework should be improved, stressing the importance of strategic approach to the area. As an example, Sabic said that though the Personal Data Protection Strategy was passed in 2010, there is still no action plan for its implementation. He also said that the cooperation with the National Assembly is good and the Commissioner’s proposals and suggestions have always been met with support by the MPs.
In addition to the Committee members, the sitting was attended by representatives of NGOs, Transparency Serbia, Informatics Society of Serbia, Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), Humanitarian Law Centre, Partners for Democratic Change Serbia and Network for Restitution who spoke of the importance of access to information of public importance and progress made in the area in the past several years. The representatives of the non-governmental sector also listed examples where the access to information of public importance had been denied by certain state bodies and other problems in the field.
The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairperson Vesna Marjanovic.