The public hearing was opened by the Chairman of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality, Meho Omerovic, who said that the proper legal framework for the creation and operation of independent institutions for the protection of citizens’ rights had been established. Regarding it, he commended the work of the Ombudsman and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, adding that the existing laws leave room for further improvement.
The Ombudsman, Sasa Jankovic, and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Rodoljub Sabic, spoke of the implementation of the Law on the Ombudsman, Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and the Law on Personal Data Protection, their flaws as perceived in practice and the need to improve the legal framework. On the occasion, they also presented the directions the changes to said laws need to take.
State Secretary at the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration Gordana Stamenic listed the most important activities the Ministry had completed in the preparation of the regulations on the Ombudsman and regulations on personal data protection and data confidentiality. Stamenic opined that bills amending and modifying the Law on the Ombudsman and the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, withdrawn from procedure when the new National Assembly legislature and new Government were formed, would be returned into assembly procedure. She also drew attention to the need to improve the existing regulations so that they may be harmonised with European legislation.
The Ombudsman also presented a document adopted at the international gathering hosted by the National Assembly, titled Belgrade Principles on the Relationship between National Human Rights Institutions and Parliaments.
Milan Antonijevic of YUCOM spoke on the application of the regulations on the Ombudsman, free access to information of public importance and personal data protection and the need to amend and modify them, from the viewpoint of the civil sector.
In the ensuing discussion, the MPs, the representatives of the ministries, local self-governments, international and non-governmental organisations and associations exchanged opinions on the National Assembly’s legislative and control role in the protection of citizens’ rights. They also spoke of the integrity of the institutions, as well as the relationship between the independent state authorities and other institutions.
The Chairman of the Committee on Human and Minority Rights and Gender Equality, Meho Omerovic noted that the participants of the public hearing agreed that the legislative framework needed to be improved and the amendments and modifications of said laws need to be put into assembly procedure so as to complete the normative framework governing the sphere.