In the course of 2012, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection and the Information Commissioner of the Republic of Slovenia successfully realized the multi-month Project ''Improvement of Personal Data Protection'', which was funded by the European Union Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (Twinning Project IPA 2009 Project No. SR/2009/IB/JH/01TWL).
The main objective of the Project was to strengthen the implementation of the Law on Personal Data Protection in the Republic of Serbia at all levels and expedite the harmonization of legislation with EU personal data protection standards.
Within this Project, experts in the field of personal data protection of the Commissioner for Information of the Republic of Slovenia analyzed the legislation of the Republic of Serbia governing personal data protection in certain fields (judiciary, internal affairs, working relations, social policy, health care and electronic communications) and prepared suggestions for amendments of analyzed legislation, in order to harmonize our legal system with EU legal standards.
One of the main project activities was the training of civil servants of the Commissioner including the staff of the relevant state authorities, regarding personal data protection issues relevant to the operation of these authorities and proper treatment of cases. Four one-day seminars were organized, where specificities of personal data processing in the following fields were presented: 1) judiciary, 2) labor, healthcare and social policy, 3) military, police and security structures, and 4) education. In addition, the staff of the Commissioner's Office underwent a five-day training conducted by Slovenian colleagues, where EU and certain states' legislation, especially of the Republic of Slovenia, in the field was presented. In addition, interesting case studies of the Information Commissioner of the Republic of Slovenia were presented and certain cases and situations from the practice of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection of the Republic of Serbia were analyzed.
In addition, several publications, which were forwarded by the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection to addresses of more than 100 institutions in the Republic of Serbia, inclusive of all ministries, courts, schools, health care institutions, etc., had been prepared.
