Sabic: Gov't fails to carry out Commissioner's decisions

BELGRADE - Serbia's Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Sabic has said that the institution has put into procedure 93 percent of the requests for information in 2013, but in none of these cases had the Serbian government ensured implementation of the Commissioner's decisions or had the offenders prosecuted.

It is necessary to amend the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, said Sabic.

The Commissioner was effective in 93 percent of the cases. However, in more than 60 percent of the cases, the authorities only gave information after first denying it and causing the Commissioner to intervene, Sabic said while presenting the Commissioner's report.

However, there are still those who do not provide information requested by the Commissioner and the number of such cases is between 200 and 300, he added.

Despite the clear, legally prescribed obligations, the Serbian government failed to ensure a forced execution of the Commissioner's decisions and for the third year in a row, the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration did not prosecute any of the numerous law offenders, he said.

“This practice needs to change urgently,” stressed Sabic.

He added that the Commissioner's annual report contained recommendations for the Serbian parliament.

The recommendations to the parliament say that the parliament should improve mechanisms for overseeing the implementation of its own conclusions based on reports submitted by the Commissioner and other independent bodies and it should support independent institutions.

Attending the presentation of the report were Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport, Protectors...