The Law on Amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance (Proposed Law), published on the National Assembly's website on February 14, 2025, was withdrawn from the parliamentary procedure last week.

From the outset of the amendment process, the organization Partners Serbia highlighted the lack of transparency and insufficient involvement of all relevant stakeholders. This problem was primarily reflected in the composition of the Working Group, which was exclusively composed of representatives from public authorities. In contrast, representatives from the media, the academic community, and the civil sector were excluded - precisely those who are the most frequent users of the right to access information.

On February 14, on the day when the Draft Law was published on the website of the National Assembly, Partners Serbia sent an initiative[1] to the Government and the Assembly to suspend the process of adopting this law because the proposed solutions do not respond to the essential problems in the implementation of the law, as well as because the Draft Law was adopted by the Government in resignation (February 13, 2025), which calls into question the legitimacy of the entire process.

The impression is that the process of amending the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance was approached hastily, without prior analysis of the implementation of the regulations, which is why we consider the withdrawal of the Bill to be good news, as it opens up space for a more comprehensive and transparent approach to reforms in this area.

It should be noted that the amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance were initiated to address the issue of abuse of rights[2], which arose following the Administrative Court's change in its long-standing position regarding the reimbursement of representation costs in appeal proceedings. This change led to the mass sending of requests for access to information and complaints "not for reasons of public interest, but solely to recover the costs of the procedure."[3]

This problem seriously threatens the exercise of rights, and the consequences affect conscientious information seekers the most. However, from the outset of the process of amending this law, the organization Partners Serbia has pointed out that the proposed solutions are insufficient to address this problem systematically. We especially emphasized that there are other problems in the application of the law, which have made it difficult for citizens to access information of public importance for years. Among them are:

· non-execution of the decisions of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection;

· ineffective inspection supervision over the implementation of the law;

· difficult access to information about the work of key authorities (Government, President, National Assembly, and others) because the Commissioner does not have jurisdiction in appeals against these authorities;

· unfavorable position of officials who act on requests for access to information of public importance. And others.

That is why we believe that, instead of focusing on individual problems in the application of this Law, it is necessary to systematically address all key issues.

The annual reports of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Protection of Personal Data also confirm that, in addition to the problem of abuse of rights, there are also numerous other challenges in the application of the law. Among these, complicated access to information of public importance for journalists, the non-implementation of the Commissioner's decisions, and inadequate responsibility of public authorities in fulfilling their legal obligations, such as the regular updating of work informants and the submission of annual reports to the Commissioner[4], are highlighted.

We believe that the withdrawal of the Proposed Law represents an opportunity to approach the process of changes systematically through an open dialogue of all relevant actors. In addition to public authorities, the working group and public debate should include the civil sector, the academic community, journalists and journalistic organizations, as well as bar associations, to jointly identify problems in the application of the law and develop sustainable solutions.

The key problem with this process was not that the public did not have the opportunity to participate but that most of the comments and proposals received during the public discussion were rejected [5]. For example, requests to extend the scope of changes to all problems observed in the application of the law were not accepted, as were numerous proposals on how to limit the abuse of rights in ways that do not reduce the level of rights achieved and which follow the legal order of Serbia.[6]

Therefore, we urge the Government and the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government to approach the process of amending the law systematically and transparently, in cooperation with all interested parties. Only in this way is it possible to create comprehensive solutions that will enhance citizens' right to access information and remove the obstacles currently hindering the implementation of the law.

This text was created as part of the "Defense of the Public's Right to Know" project.

The project "Defense of the Public's Right to Know" is supported by an Ad Hoc grant of the regional project SMART Balkan - Civil Society for a connected Western Balkans, which is implemented by the Center for the Promotion of Civil Society (CPCD) BiH, the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) North Macedonia and the Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) Albania, and is financially supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway.

The content of the text is the sole responsibility of Partners for Democratic Changes Serbia. It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Center for the Promotion of Civil Society, the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), the Institute for Democracy and Mediation, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway.

 

[1] Initiative to the Government of Serbia and the National Assembly to suspend the process of adopting amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, Partners Serbia: https://www.partners-serbia.org/post?id=642

[2] Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government: "The Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance is Amending" https://mduls.gov.rs/saopstenja/menja-se-zakon-o-slobodnom-pristupu-informacijam-od-javnog-znacaja/?script=lat

[3] Annual report of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection for 2023, p. 28-29: https://www.poverenik.rs/images/stories/dokumentation-nova/izvestajiPoverenika/2023/Godi%C5%A1nji_izve%C5%A1taj_2023lat.pdf

[4] Annual report of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection for 2023, pages 28-31: https://www.poverenik.rs/images/stories/dokumentation-nova/izvestajiPoverenika/2023/Godi%C5%A1nji_izve%C5%A1taj_2023lat.pdf

[5] The report from the public hearing is available on the website of the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government: https://mduls.gov.rs/javne-rasprave-i-konsultacije/javni-poziv-za-ucesce-u-javnoj-raspravi-o-nakrtu-zakona-o-izmenama-i-punama-zakona-o-slobodnom-pristupu-informazijam-od-javnoj-znacaja/?script=lat

[6] Proposals of the organization Partners Serbia made in cooperation with the members of the Coalition for Freedom of Access to Information are available on the website of the organization Partners Serbia: https://www.partners-serbia.org//public/news/Obrazac_za_predloge-_Nacrt_ZoSPIJZ,_Koalicija_za_slobodu_pristupa_informacijama.pdf