The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection said announcements of responsible officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs about compliance with the Commissioners ruling, ordering this Ministry to stop inadmissible processing of personal data of police officers and citizens which it performs without valid legal basis through audio and video recording systems (AVI surveillance) installed in patrol cars of the traffic police, were positive and expected.

Emphasizing that respect of the law does not exclude, but on the contrary presupposesthe need for responsible, rational management of the budget funds and the need to objectively inform the public about relevant circumstances, Commissioner RodoljubSabic also said the following:

"In that context, I must refer to the announcement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in which this Ministry announces that it will comply with the Commissioner's ruling "ordering the removal of video cameras from patrol cars" although this "system proved to be efficient means to fight corruption" and that "proposal of amendments to the law would provide the basis forre-introduction of the system". In that regard, I must remind about the fact that "removal" of video cameras is not mentioned at all in the Commissioner's ruling. This simply is not the Commissioner's task, I banned their use in accordance with the law, i.e. I banned data processing carried out through them because there is no legal basis for that.

The ban has not been imposed without due consideration, but because no reply has been received, even after the Commissioner's plea, to the warning sent several months ago, in which it was is stated that this constitutes personal data processing without legal basis.

The Serbian Constitution explicitly provides that personal data processing is regulated by the law and that processing of personal data for purposes other than those specified by the law is prohibited and punishable. The Law on Personal Data Processing also stipulates that data processing is inadmissible "if it is done for purposes other than those specified" or if the purpose "is vaguely defined".