Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006

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Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006received 540 responses, i.e. 72.28 per cent. The fact that an increase hasbeen recorded in the percentage in which responses are received to therequested information is positive, because last year 645 requests were sent,and 318 responses were received, i.e. 49.30 per cent. It can be concludedthat in comparison to last year, the percentage of received information hasrisen 22.58 percent.In the year 2005, of 212 tested organs, 81 obeyed the law, i.e. 30.92 per cent,and in 2006 167 organs of public authorities from the 378 tested, whichmeans 44.18 per cent. Therefore, the increase has been recorded here also,as well as an improvement in the quality of the implementation of the law.Appointing authorized people in the public authority bodiesfor action upon requestsMunicipalities in Serbia were tested on whether they had appointed theauthorized people for actions upon requests. The law does not regulatethe duty of the organs of public authorities to name this person, only thepossibility of it, and in case the authorized person has not been named,the administrator of the organ is responsible 236 . The Initiative believesthat the appointment of an authorized person would significantly add tothe improvement of the implementation of the law in practice, becausein every organ of public authorities there would be a person whose soleduty would be to enable access to information of public significance, andthere would not be any dilemmas about the potential responsibility for notobeying the law.One hundred forty one requests were sent to the addresses of 141municipalities in Serbia. Eighty four municipalities delivered an answer,among which 66, i.e. 46.80 per cent had named an authorized person,and 18 had not. Sixty eight of the tested municipalities did not answer thesubmitted request.236 Ibid, Article 38, Paragraph 262
Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006Making the Report on the workState organs are obliged to make a report with basic information on theirwork 237 at least once a year, and to enable any interested persons to seeor receive a copy with the compensation of necessary expenses 238 . Thepurpose of the report on the work is, among other things, to simplify forthe organs of public authorities the execution of obligations stipulated bythe law. The existence of a report of good quality and availability to thecitizens would lead to the requesters not needing to file requests to thestate organs, but be able to simply look into the report and in that way“avoid” the often long procedure of receiving the requested information.Such a way of working would represent a step forward in the direction oftransparent and democratic communication between the organs of publicauthorities and the citizens.The report was not done by 46 of 154 tested organs, and 11 had donethem but not in accordance with the Law and the Directions for publishinga report on the work of a state bodies 239 . A report which is completely inaccordance with the law was done by 48 organs of public authorities inSerbia. On the request of the Initiative for information on the making ofthe Report, 49 bodies did not reply.Some municipalities in Serbia stated the lack of financial means as a reasonfor not filing the report. Although the Law on free access to informationwas adopted on the proposition of the Government, they did not manageto provide sufficient monetary funds for its functioning in practice. Thisis most visible in some, smaller municipalities which do not possess thefinancial means to employ persons who would work on the requests. Suchmeans are not anticipated by the budget of the municipalities. DraganaStevanovic, the chief of the Svilajnac municipality, stated in a conversationwith the investigator of the Initiative that the municipality does not havea person who could answer the obligations which are required by theimplementation of the Law on free access to information. She mentionedthat the Ministry of Finances did not allow her to open new positionsbecause there are not enough funds for additional employees 240 . In her237 Ibid, Article 39238 Ibid, Article 40239 Instructions for publishing the report on the work of state bodies, published on May 23 rd , 2005240 The report on the conversation with Dragana Stevanovic – the chief of the Svilajnac municipality, is in thedocumentation of the Initiative63
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Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006

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