The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection received a complaint from the Serbian Progressive Party signed by the President of that Party Tomislav Nikolic which points out at the misuse of personal data of several thousands of citizens of Bor. The complaint states that this data was used to distribute falsified invoices with purposefully mistaken appropriation: “aid to Serbian Progressive Party’s campaign”. The Commissioner will, according to the Law, take this complaint into consideration without any delay.

In this regard, the Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic stated the following:

„The claims contained in the complaint contribute to my already-existing doubt that there were numerous breaches of the Law in this case. Firstly, there are doubts that the criminal act of abusing one's official capacity has been committed. However, besides this act, the circumstances also show that very robust, serious, and multiple violations of the Law on Personal Data Protection have been committed, and these are, without any doubt, punishable offences according to the Law. Finally, besides the previously-mentioned violations, this case could also involve the existence of the criminal act of unauthorized collection of personal data regulated by Art. 146 of the Criminal Code.

I would like to mention the fact that the aforementioned provision of the Criminal Code envisions either a financial punishment or up to one year of imprisonment for the person who, without authorization, used personal data for purposes they were not intended for; if the act is committed by a person acting in official capacity then the only punishment is imprisonment of up to 3 years.

The complaint will be taken into consideration without any delay since the case might affect personal data of a large number of citizens. In accordance with his mandate and available work capacities, the Commissioner will send authorized persons – inspectors, to Bor, in order to conduct an investigation and determine relevant facts. It should be understood that the activities which will be undertaken by the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection do not exclude, but rather envision, certain measures to be taken by other state institutions – the Ministry of Interior and the Public Prosecutor.“