BELGRADE, 08.09.2018. – Serbia’s Information Commissioner Rodoljub Sabic warned on Thursday that the draft law on protecting personal data seems to have been written for the benefit of “security structures” and not individuals.
Sabic told the Beta news agency that he is “impressed” by the large number of exemptions written into the draft law favouring the authorities at the expense of the rights it should be guaranteeing.
“Views which are more or less like mine were expressed in the expert opinion of the European Commission which the Justice Ministry has been withholding from the public,” he said.
The commissioner recalled that the European Commission experts warned of the large number of exemptions which make the law complicated and less transparent. “Since the protection of personal data is a basic right in the European Union, we need to devote special attention to the law to make it clear because it gives many important rights to the people and that does not seem to be the case in this draft,” Sabic said.
He also warned that the language used in the draft is inexplicably confusing and complicated and hard to understand even for law experts.