The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection initiated oversight over the implementation of the Law on Personal Data Protection in the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Health.

The procedure was initiated after the news published in the media and on the website of the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, which states, among other things: "Government ministers agreed with the Ambassador of China in Serbia and the director of the Zelezara Smederevo a sick leave control mechanism, as well as how it will be implemented ... this will be a kind of pilot project, which, if it yields good results, will be generally applied ...”

The Commissioner states that the regulation of sick leave is a statutory matter. These rules are regulated from various aspects from several of our laws (Law on Personal Data Protection, Law on Patients' Rights, Labour Law, Health Insurance Law ...).

The rules established by these laws set up a unique system that cannot and may not not be changed, nor can it be based on any agreements with foreign investors, especially with some of them.

Starting from the above, and bearing in mind that any “sick leave control mechanism” involves the processing of personal data, and the data that are particularly sensitive under the law, the Commissioner asked both ministries to declare within three days what the mentioned “pilot project” and the “agreed sick leave control mechanism” involve, what is the legal basis for the said personal data processing, as well as a number of other issues related to the type of data that will be processed, who will handle this process, who are users of data and the like.