The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection estimates the reaction of the Ministry of Interior to the Warning that the commissioner have directed to the Ministry concerning the irregularities observed on the occasion of the implementation of the Law on Personal Data Protection, as good and useful. The irregularities in question are related to the retention of the identification card or other personal document with a photograph of the face for the purposes of issuing a daily pass for entering a building where the security tasks are performed by officers of the Ministry of Interior.

Acting upon the Warning, the Minister of Interior sent an act to all the organizational units of the Ministry and all the police directorates and headquarters, ordering "the immediate cessation of retention of the identification card or other public document with a photograph of the face, used for issuing a daily pass for entering buildings of the Ministry of Interior and other buildings on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, where police officers are assigned with the security tasks".

The reaction of the Ministry of Interior to the Commissioner's Warning and the interruption of perennial bad practices is good as it is a confirmation of the fair attitude towards the Law on Personal Data Protection. Besides, it is a very useful example for all other subjects to stop a possible similar practice.

The authorization and need for authentication of someone's identity by the insight into the identification document never implies the retention of the document (with exception when it is strictly prescribed by the law).

With regard to that, the Commissioner reminds numerous subjects dealing with the security tasks of the fact that the Law on Private Security does not give grounds to retention of personal documents either, and therefore the possible retention represents unpurposeful, unlawful processing of personal data, simultaneously increasing the risk of possible malpractices.