Source: Blic
Rodoljub Sabic - Information Commissioner
The start of implementation of the new ID Act, which prescribes the use of personal identification documents equipped with electronic chips containing biometric personal data of the owner, could bring back all the criticisms that the law was exposed to at the time it was being passed. Those criticisms were numerous; they came from various entities and were based on unusually different arguments. These days the public has been informed that the Ministry of the Interior and the Government have postponed the application of this law under a special regulation, and that the obligation to possess a “smart ID” has become optional. In other words, those who do not want it are not obligated to have it.The solution to the problem, albeit partial, will make many people happy, but it will also provoke criticisms again, primarily from the legal aspect. The intervention with a regulation in the explicit provisions of the law cannot take the criticism from the aspect of normal hierarchy of legal documents. However, it would be wrong to insist on it too much. This move may buy some time, which should be used intelligently. First, to eliminate as many outstanding dilemmas as possible in an open communication between the government and the expert public. Second, to make the adoption of the new Personal Data Protection Act harmonised with the European standards an indisputable priority of the future Parliament
