The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance has made decisions, based on appeals of Administrative Board of The Parliament of Republic of Serbia, which obligate Public Company PTT of Serbia, Public Company “Putevi Srbije”, Public Company Airport “Nikola Tesla”, RATEL, RTS, NIS, NIS Petrol, State Water Board, to deliver data on salaries and fees of their management. Expressing hope that by way of doing this the enforcement of the procedure which in itself is an absurdity, is drawing to an end, the Trustee Rodoljub Sabic claims: “The Decisions are obligatory by the law and those to whom they apply to are liable to act accordingly in due time. If necessary the Serbian Government is liable to implement the decisions.
Administrative Board sought information from the Serbian Government, i.e. the Ministry of Finance. It did not receive them, thence it addressed to the information Trustee. Warned of its legal liabilities the Trustee has forwarded the Board's applications to addresses of those in question and some ¾ submitted the necessary data. Board has submitted formal appeals to the Trustee against those who failed to do it, based on which the decisions were made.
The Law on free access to public information in article no.2 defines public information as follows: “information at disposal of public authority, created in operation or with reference to operation of authority, is contained in a certain document and related to anything rightly in public's interest to be informed of.” Article no.3 says according to the definition of this law public authority among others is every “legal person founding or financing on the whole, that is mostly the state, or public authority”, while article no.5 says that ”everyone is entitled to have access to public information…”
It is absurd that the highest legislative operating body must seek information available to all by the law, with the assistance of the Trustee.
It is inconceivable in a democratic world we tend to join, to deprive public of such data. Data on salaries and fees, not only of the public companies' management but many private companies' as well are publicly available. It is provided in the Recommendation of the European Community Committee 2004/913/CE that every company rated on a stock market is liable to announce a fee policy declaration, while as far as publishing information on individual fees of the directors and members of administrative or supervisory board is concerned, not only salaries are specified but also, contract payments, commissions, sharing of profit, shares, possible pension benefits, even amounts of approved loans.
The European Community Committee considers publishing such accurate and updated information a crucial precedent for trust building and promotion of a wholesome practice of company management.”
