The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Šabić has received Komlen Lalović, the inventor of the device for biometric identification of motherhood, and talked to him about the possibilities of the use of his patent (dual biometric scanner) in order to prevent possible abuses, such as theft or replacement of babies in maternity wards.

The Commissioner has promised that he will make every effort, within the limits of his authority, to suggest to competent persons to create the conditions for the application of this patent in our maternity hospitals.

In regard to this, Commissioner Šabić also said the following:

"The immediate cause of addressing me was a multi-year commitment of the Commissioner in assisting parents of the babies allegedly missing. Even several years ago I warned of the indicative fact that the parents of missing babies face a host of problems in accessing the relevant information and reach information only after appealing to the Commissioner and after his engagement.

As early as the end of 2008 I warned the relevant bodies, including the National Assembly, that the irresponsible attitude towards the problem lead to its escalation and that the problem would take on an international scale, which was confirmed by the International Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, in early 2013.

I follow the activities in preparing the so-called Law on Missing babies and within that the disagreements and misunderstandings between competent persons and parents as well. Now, same as ever before, I am of the opinion that in choosing legal solution the authorities need to fully take into account the views of parents. Certainly it is not good that the adoption of the legislation and taking other appropriate measures is significantly overdue in relation to the deadline established by the decision of the Court in Strasbourg.

Mr. Lalović's patent cannot, of course, solve the problems of the past, but would in all probability eliminate them in the future. In this regard, it is good that he sought and received the validation of the patent's value from several of our major maternity wards, as well as their interest to start using it.

I find commendable the willingness of the inventor, as expressly confirmed in an interview, to completely waive any property rights in relation to the exploitation of his patent in maternity wards in Serbia.

I will make a suggestion to the competent ministry to regulate the use of the dual biometric scanner (fingerprinting mother and child at birth) in our maternity hospitals by a specific rule book. Of course, since it is the processing of biometric, meaning particularly sensitive data, it would be done only with the express written consent of the mother, but I think that in most cases there would be readiness to do so. "