Rodoljub Sabic, Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, supported the initiative of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce to provide a higher level of transparency and better information for all entities, particularly economic operators, in implementation of the new Bankruptcy Law. The Commissioner insisted that legislative arrangements should be interpreted in a manner which ensures maximum transparency of procedures, as well as that the highest possible level of transparency in implementation of this Law should be ensured by all available factual means.

In that regard, Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic also said the following:

“The Serbian Chamber of Commerce quite appropriately and responsibly warned that the practice of publishing decisions on prior bankruptcy proceedings only on the notice board of the competent commercial court is not in compliance with transparency requirements and that it may violate the rights and legitimate interest of numerous entities.

The initiative of the Chamber of Commerce is absolutely justified, both as a matter of principle, as it is necessary to inform the public about all measures taken by public authorities, and from the aspect of specific objectives of bankruptcy proceedings: to ensure maximum cost-effectiveness in compounding with creditors and to achieve the highest possible value of the bankrupt’s estate.

Placing decisions on a notice board to inform the public is certainly not the ideal of the time we live in. It would be much more appropriate to this day and age, not to mention useful and beneficial, if the said decisions were also posted on the Internet presentations of the economic operators register, on the portal of the network of commercial courts of Serbia and on the portal of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, which has already offered that itself, in order to achieve a higher level of transparency.

We should use every occasion, including this one, to emphasize that ongoing improvement of transparency of operations must be one of the leading principles which guide the operations of public authorities. In that context, legal provisions must be both interpreted and implemented in the manner which would not jeopardize but, on the contrary, expand the scope for the exercise of the right to access information of public importance.”