Defend the Right to Information – I Don’t Want Public Information to Be Classified

A group of civil society organizations consisting of, among others, Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, CRTA, Legal Scanner, Civic Initiatives, Slavko Curuvija Foundation, Transparency Serbia, BIRN, Partners Serbia and Open Society Foundation Serbia launched the initiative “Defend the Right to Information – I Don’t Want Public Information to Be Classified”. The aim of the initiative is to defend and promote the right to free access to information of public importance as a basic means of re-examining the accountability of government representatives towards citizens.

The key issue of the Draft Law is the exclusion of a part of companies that dispose with a considerable public property from the obligation to disclose information regarding their work. Another issue is the legalization of the obstruction of free access to information by introducing the possibility for the authorities to conduct administrative proceedings against the binding, final and enforceable decisions of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection. This initiative wishes to draw attention to yet another missed opportunity to foresee a more efficient system of the Commissioner’s decisions enforcement.