the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection estimates that it is good, normal and expected that the High Judicial Council and the Serbian Medical Chamber withdrew from signing the Memorandum of association of the Medical Chamber of Serbia (MCS) and High Judicial Council (HJC) planned for yesterday, following the letter from the Commissioner.

In his letter and with a view to acting preventively and hindering undesirable consequences of unlawful processing of personal data, the Commissioner pointed out that the content of the abovementioned Memorandum that had envisaged the obligation of the HJC to obtain final decisions reached against healthcare workers, i.e. doctors, from courts of first instance and to inform the MCS afterwards would constitute unlawful processing of personal data contrary to the Law on Personal Data Protection.

Neither the Constitutional provisions that regulate the competence of the HJC, nor the legal regulations related to the HJC and the MCS, provide a basis for the announced processing of personal data. At the same time, according to the provisions of the Rulebook on Conditions for Issuing, Renewing and Repealing the Licence for the Members of the Healthcare Professionals' Chambers in the Republic of Serbia, processing of data is defined imprecisely and ambiguously. What is more important is that, in principle, the Rulebook, as a bylaw, cannot be a basis for personal data processing, according to the Constitution. Therefore, the Commissioner will initiate the procedure for the appraisal of its constitutionality.

The actions directed towards exercising legitimate goals, such as, for instance, improvement of patients' rights or combating corruption in the healthcare system, can be and must be realized exclusively in line with the Constitution and the laws and should not be the subject of individual projects, actions and improvisations that could only compromise those goals.

It is good that the case in question ended without any consequences, such as violation of law and legally safeguarded rights of citizens, but it certainly deserves attention. It is an additional confirmation that, in Serbia, both the existing legal framework and the factual condition in the area of personal data processing are far below the required and expected level.