In connection with the commendation of the European Data Protection Day, Mr. Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, said that the improvement of personal data protection was one of the main challenges for the Republic of Serbia in 2012.
“Harmonization of Serbian legal order with European personal data protection standards and serious work on the implementation of these standards in practice is a twofold duty of the state. It is important to make up for delays as s soon as possible. We are bound to do this both by our formal duties and, more importantly, the need to improve the protection of citizens’ privacy, i.e. to minimize the risk of abuse of their personal data. At a time when CoE and EU are establishing new, more rigorous personal data protection standards of higher quality, it is high time we provided at least implementation of the old ones.”
Commendation of the Data Protection Day has been organized for the second time in Serbia.
The European Data Protection Day is commended across Europe with the aim to improve public awareness of importance of the right to data protection and to improve privacy and data protection standards. It is commended jointly by the European Commission and the Council of Europe. This year marks 31 years since the Council of Europe member states signed the first international agreement on personal data protection – the Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic Processing of Personal Data, known as the Convention 108.
In addition to Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic, the meeting was also opened by Mr. Sasa Jankovic, the Ombudsman, and Antje Rothemund, Head of the council of Europe Office in Belgrade.
During the working part of the meeting, Mr. Sabic presented the most important cases encountered in his practice in 2011 and emphasized growing challenges to the protection of personal data and privacy in the Republic of Serbia.
The meeting was organized by the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection and the Partners for Democratic Change Serbia, with support from the Open Society Fund Serbia. Organization of the meeting was also supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Serbia Media Assistance Program (IREX-USAID).
For additional information on this event please contact the Partners for Democratic Change in Serbia on the following phone numbers: +381 11 3231 551 3231 552, or at office@partners-serbia.org, www.partners-serbia.org .
For information on work of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection visit the following web page: www.poverenik.rs.
