Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006

Implementation of Transitional Laws in Serbia 2006the Commissioner, unless it is otherwise regulated by this law 293 .Upon receiving a complaint, the Commissioner establishes the facts, andthen reaches a decision 294 . The decision must be reached without delay, andin the period of 30 days at most from the day the complaint was filed 295 .Therefore, the period of 30 days is the final deadline the Commissioner hasto reach a decision upon receiving the complaint, and he is obliged to reachit “without delay”. Unallowed, untimely complaints and the complaintsissued by unauthorized persons will be dismissed by the Commissioner 296 .Upon a completed process, the Commissioner reaches a decision in whichhe either dismisses the procedure upon a request, or orders the organ ofpublic authority to send the prosecutor the requested information in threedays and to inform him of this in seven days.Six months after Rodoljub Sabic was elected Commissioner 297 , on 1st July2006, the authorized services of the Government provided the necessaryconditions for his work. Because of the constant increase in the number ofcomplaints, the working space in which the Commissioner’s office operatesis no longer satisfactory 298 . Also, a number of people must be employedurgently 299 . At this time the Commissioner’s office employs six people,of which three work on the processing of cases upon complaints by therequesters of the information 300 . Such a small number of people are belowthe actual needs, and the employment of new ones is conditioned by theproviding of a new working space 301 . Based on the results of the research,we can conclude that the Commissioner if fully obeying his legal obligations,and that he and his service deserve the most credit for the fact that the Lawon free access to information has finally started to be applied. Without hisefforts and enormous commitment, the citizens of Serbia would not beable to practice the right of access to information, nor would the organs ofpublic authorities have modernized their attitude toward this law.The Commissioner had, in January 2006, brought documents by which the293 Ibid, Article 21294 Ibid, Article 26, Paragraph 1295 Ibid, Article 24, Paragraph 1296 Ibid, Article 24, Paragraph 2297 Decision of the Serbian Parliament number 91 from December 22 nd , 2004, by which Rodoljub Sabic wasappointed the Commissioner298 The report on the implementation of the Law on free access to information, number 021-01-9/2006-01, Commissionerfor information of public significance, can be found on the website: www.poverenik.org.yu, visited on November23 rd , 2006299 Ibid300 Ibid301 Ibid71