Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, on occasion of the celebration of the fifth anniversary of the adoption of the Personal Data Protection Strategy (the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted it on 16 August 2010) warned about unsatisfactory and worrying situation in the area of personal data protection.

Estimating that the state's attitude towards the Strategy represents the "best" illustration of its incomprehensibly irresponsible attitude towards the situation in the important area of human rights, the Commissioner, Rodoljub Sabic has stated the following:

"It's been five years since the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Personal Data Protection Strategy.

By adopting the Strategy, the Government in its text set out that it will "form a special working body which will supervise provision of conditions and implementation of the Strategy and Action Plan, coordinate public authorities for the purpose of efficient functioning of the personal data protection system, inform the competent authorities about implementation of the Strategy and problems observed in its realization and initiate amendments to the Strategy, in accordance with new requirements or perceived shortcomings."

In addition, which is more important, it set out that ''the Action Plan on Implementation of the Strategy, with defines activities, expected effects, bodies responsible for specific tasks and timelines for execution of tasks, shall be passed within 90 days of the date of publication."

Five years have passed, and the ''special working body" has not been established, and the Action Plan has not been adopted. This has resulted in the absence of a number of necessary things. The Government is running three years behind with the draft of the new Law on Personal Data Protection. It did not help that ten months ago, the Commissioner prepared and made available to the Government a complete Model of the new law. In the case of the Ordinance on the Protection of Particularly Sensitive Data, the Government is running more than six years behind! State activities in this area practically come down to the activities of the Commissioner, and even though his activities are more and more numerous, they cannot replace what the relevant ministries, the Government and the National Assembly would have to do.

The absurd delay in the adoption of the Action Plan has become the subject of the European Commission's warning, as well. ''In line'' with the EC recommendations, the Government set out in the Action Plan for meeting the recommendations that the Action Plan for Implementation of the Personal Data Protection Strategy would be passed in mid-2013 However it was not passed. On occasion of the repeated objections of the EC, the Government set out mid-2014 as the new deadline, but, once again, it was not passed.

Even today we lack the Action Plan, and therefore we lack many other things necessary for the improvement of personal data protection, as well. I think any comment on that fact, from the standpoint of the expected negotiations on Chapter 23 with the EU, and also, which is much more important, from the standpoint of protection of rights which the state owes its citizens, would be redundant."