Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Sabic said that access to information of public importance has been on a continuous rise but the evident presence of a great many problems, some of them persistent and lasting for years now, should not be disregarded.

Rodoljub Sabic said that everybody responsible for the implementation of the Law should direct their efforts toward affirming the modern understanding of the right to free access to information. This right, viewed from the standpoint of governmental authorities, besides a passive, must also have an active component.

He pointed out that the mechanisms set up to make sure a lawbreaker assumes responsibility, do not function, which is evidenced in the fact that there are many complaints submitted to the relevant authorities, which then do not act on them and have not filed a single misdemeanour charge against the offender.

Therefore, he suggested that the Law should be amended to follow the changes that have in the meantime happened in other areas of the legal system and in real life, which requires the Law to include certain subjects which were not covered before but have serious public authority, such as, for example, notaries public and executors.

The point of the necessary amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance is to boost the transparency of the institutions i.e. protect the right to access to information in real life by expanding the Commissioner’s authority, increase the penalties and responsibility for the implementation of the Law, regulate the execution of conclusions on fines and raise the level of pro-active publication of information.

Committee Chairman Meho Omerovic commended the Commissioner’s comprehensive and detailed annual report, agreeing that the institutions should act in accordance with the Law. Omerovic said that the Committee would use its control role to make sure the provisions of the Law are consistently implemented.

The Committee members will discuss the Commissioner’s recommendations and formulate conclusions to send to the National Assembly for consideration, at one of the upcoming sittings.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Meho Omerovic.