Many NGO representatives and media addressed the Commissioner for Information with regard to frequent ecological incidents in Serbian rivers, asking for legal status, i.e. possibility to access information on these events. In view of that, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic stated:      

„All information related to jeopardizing environment are without any doubt of primary public importance. Such status is confirmed in respective provisions of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance. Therefore,  Article 4 of the Law  determines that there shall always be justified public interest to be aware of these information,  and the option to prove the opposite shall been explicitly excluded;  and Article 16 of the Law lays down deadlines for authorities to provide information to claimant (15 days); for information related to jeopardizing environment deadline is much shorter - 48 hours.

Although our country, unfortunately, did not sign nor ratify fundamental international document concerning environmental protection - (Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public Involvement in Decision-Making and Judicial Availability concerning environmental issues), it has nevertheless guaranteed the right to access information on environment in the Constitution and Law, to the extent of standards from this Convention.

Therefore, constitutional and legal guarantees for free access to information should be construed in line with European democratic standards. Meaning that all these guarantees imply not only everyone's right to ask and get information, but also the liability for competent authorities to make as many of these information public, even if they were not individually requested. In that sense, I would like to welcome efforts by newly established Ministry for Environmental Protection to provide information concerning mentioned incidents on its official website, and to wish them that such examples of communication with the public become more frequent and improve in quality.“