Belgrade, July 4, 2023.
The public presentation of the survey "Citizens' perception of personal data protection" (version in Serbian only) conducted by the agency Kantar Srbija / TMG Insights during April and May of this year, was held today for numerous representatives of public authorities, the non-governmental sector, and journalists at the Mona Plaza Hotel in Belgrade.
In his opening address, Commissioner Milan Marinović pointed out that the results of the survey show that almost half of the citizens are familiar with the work of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection and that the majority have a positive attitude towards this institution and believe that it can help them ensure the protection of personal data. He also recalled the results of the first wave of public opinion polls conducted in 2020, and the media campaign called "Keep it Personal."
Senior Governance Advisor and Head of Section in the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Agnes Bodens, stated that the right to privacy is an essential human right that is now more important than ever and that the OSCE will continue to support the Commissioner in further raising citizens' awareness of personal data protection.
The survey results show that the majority of Serbian citizens (60%) noticed that during the last year, there has been a lot more talk about personal data protection. Citizens are most interested in who can ask for their personal data, who they can turn to in case of misuse, what would their rights be, and what are all the threats to personal data.
In the end, the Commissioner stated that such surveys are necessary because it is a good way to make a cross-section of the situation and that we should also consider surveying special target groups. He also emphasized that we are steering in the right direction and expressed his expectation that the OSCE will, in due course of time, support the implementation of new surveys and campaigns for raising public awareness of personal data protection. He also pointed to the fact that the figures from the survey confirm that citizens' trust in the institution of the Commissioner is growing and appealed to citizens to be careful when giving their personal data to others.
Both public opinion polls (the first from 2020, and the second from 2023), as well as the public campaign "Keep it personal." (2022), were conducted in cooperation with the OSCE Mission to Serbia and the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection within the multi-year project of the Mission "Consolidating the process of democratization in the Security Sector in Serbia", financed by the Government of Sweden.
You can download the full version of the Report here: Citizens' Perception of Personal Data Protection in 2023
