Montenegoro Adopts Controversial Surveillance Law

The Montenegrin parliament on Tuesday adopted a controversial new law on the National Security Agency, NSA, by which intelligence officers can access all databases in Montenegro only by showing official identification cards.

The new regulation was supported by the ruling coalition. Opposition MPs voted against it, seeking an amendment, qualifying that such measures can be applied only with the approval of the President of the Supreme Court.

Under the new law, the National Security Agency can also have access to all electronic communications of citizens only on the order of the agency's director.  

The opposition says intelligence officers will now have access to all banking data of the Montenegrin citizens and also to various records held by NGOs.

The government insists that the new law is a vital part of the modernization of the security sector, which is one of the requirements for membership of NATO.

Justice Minister Dusko Markovic argued earlier that the new regulation complied with international human rights standards.

"An important innovation prescribes an explicit requirement for the Agency to report to the police and the prosecution on any data indicating the existence of a criminal offence," the minister said.

Four leading rights groups in Montenegro, MANS, Action for Human Rights and the Center for Civic Education and Institute Alternative, criticized the advent of warrantless surveillance.

They say the changes undermine the principles of the constitution and of the European Convention on Human Rights, which obliges governments to protect the individual against "arbitrary actions and interference in private life".

"The NSA can now access all datebase without any written order,...