Pravo na pristup informacijama od javnog značaja
The Right of Public Access to Information

Summary/Abstract: In July 2003, Serbian Government has adopted the Draft Law on Free Access to Information. The Draft is based on the Model Law on the Free Access to Information, prepared by Belgrade based NGO — the Centre for the Advancement of Legal Studies. Enactment of this law would be significant from the point of view of human rights, media freedom and the need to address corruption. In the course of the public debate on the draft law the most significant objections directed at the draft relates to the ommission from the draft of the norm stipulating the obligation of protection of whistleblowers, which was present both in the Model Law and in an earlier draft of the Government version of the Law. The work on this Draft Law has been a good example of cooperation between the non-governmental sector, the Government, and the international organizations in the process of reforming the Serbian legal system. The representatives of international organizations in Serbia have secured technical assistance in the organization of public debate on the Draft Law. Participants in the debate included Council of Europe experts, members of Article 19 - Global Campaign for Free Expression non-governmental organization, and other experts, who have analyzed the draft in detail. Foreign experts have judged the Draft Law to be an “ambitious attempt to address most of the issues necessary to be dealt with in the process of building of a system securing access to official documents”, and point to the need to define some normative solutions more precisely, in order to reduce the possibility of discretionary decision-making by state institutions. The Serbian legal system needs a proper constitutional regulation of the right of public access to information, and a separate law on the technicalities of obtaining this access needs to be enacted. Apart from the normative regulation of this area, a full effectiveness and efficiency of the exercise of the right of access to information also presupposes an unhindered function of the Ombudsman for this area, as a separate and independent institution. The enactment of legislation regulating the classification of data is also needed, as well as a campaign of education of both public officials and the general public in the ways of obtaining access to documents.

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