A large number of media representatives and citizens have addressed the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection showing interest for his position and potential reaction on the fact that just adopted Law on Registry of employees, elected, nominated, appointed and engaged persons with public funds beneficiaries, among other things, provides for that ethnicity data of employees shall be entered in the Registry and processed.

In this regard, the Commissioners Rodoljub Sabic also said:

"That was not included in the Bill which the Government communicated to the Assembly, it became an integral part of the Law when the Government adopted the corresponding amendment, so the Commissioner was not able to give an opinion about, nor the Government accepting the amendment asked for an opinion.

Accordingly, I was not even informed about the arguments on which the amendment was based, but I assume it is about already previously mentioned reasons such as equality in the conduct of public affairs, and in this regard, ensuring equal representation of minorities in employment in public services.

In any case I believe it is necessary, in connection with the adopted solution, to recall the few absolutely relevant provisions of the Constitution and laws.

Our Constitution (Article 47) expressly states that ethnicity may be expressed freely and that no person shall be obliged to declare his/her ethnicity.

Also, the Law on Protection of Personal Data (Article 16) classifies data relating to ethnicity in the category of particularly sensitive data that shall be processed exclusively on the basis of free subject's consent.

The Criminal Code (Article 130) also provides for that whoever coerces another person to declare his/her ethnicity shall be punished with imprisonment up to 3 years.

Accordingly, without going into a detailed assessment of the adopted legal solution, I consider indisputable that the provision of the law on the registration of ethnicity data in the Registry in any case may not imply the obligation of public sector employees to declare their ethnicity, and that the registration may be carried out only optionally, only when and if they want it."