Representatives of the Public Procurement Administration attended the roundtable on ‘’Drafts of the Law on free access to information, Law on amendments to the Law on protection of personal data and the Law on amendments to the Law on protection of secrecy of data’’

Ministry of Culture, in cooperation with Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense and the OSCE Mission, organized a roundtable on ‘’Drafts of the Law on free access to information, Law on amendments to the Law on protection of personal data and the Law on amendments to the Law on protection of secrecy of data’’, on 1 March 2012, at hotel Crna Gora – Green hall, starting at 9:30h.

Representatives of the Public Procurement Administration attended the roundtable on ‘’Drafts of the Law on free access to information, Law on amendments to the Law on protection of personal data and the Law on amendments to the Law on protection of secrecy of data’’.

The basic goal of the roundtable was presentation of the Draft Law, as well as discussion on the said Drafts, while the views of international experts were being presented: Mrs. Waltraut Kotschy and Mr. Alexander Kashumov. Apart from them, the presentations were also held by: H.E. Ambassador Sarunas Adomavicius, Mr. Alberto Camarata, Mr. Tomo Miljić (Ministry of Culture), Mrs. Zora Čizmović (Ministry of Interior) and Mrs. Nada Ulićević (Ministry of Defense).

Duško Marković, Deputy Prime Minister introduced the participants to the topic of the roundtable. After his opening speech, the opinions were expressed by Ambassador Sarunas Adomavicius, Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro and Mr. Alberto Cammarata, Head of Political Section of Delegation of the EU to Montenegro. They expressed their opinions related to implementation of Draft Laws and importance of their adoption. Alberto Cammarata stated that the democracy without citizens’ involvement is not possible, so that they must feel free in respect of the authorities.  He also pointed out that, if the state wishes to be responsible before its citizens, then there must be a mechanism that would limit potential conflict between the rights to free access to information and rights to protection of personal data.

Representative of Ministry of Culture Mr. Tomo Miljić stated that the Law on free access to information introduces a proactive approach to information as a novelty, which has as its aim to promote transparency within the state administration’s operation and the established principle of freedom of information flow. This is reflected in the fact that an unlimited number of natural and legal persons have the possibility to simultaneously access a large amount of information concerning administrative bodies in an informal manner.

Also, the Draft Law on amendments to the Law on protection of personal data contains numerous novelties that are in compliance with the Directives of the European Parliament.  The title Agency for protection of personal was amended and it got the addition for free access to information, and penalty provisions for violations of the Law were revised. This Draft was presented by Mrs. Zora Čizmović, the representative of Ministry of Interior.

The most important novelty introduced by the Law on protection of secrecy of data is the reduced scope of protected interests, and that refers to the fields of security and defense, the field of external, monetary and economic policy of Montenegro. These subjects were covered by presentation from the representative of Ministry of Defense, Mrs. Nada Ulićević.

The legal expert from the OSCE, Mr. Alexander Kashumov commented on the Draft Law on free access to information and the Draft Law on amendments to the Law on protection of secrecy of data. He stated that the rights to access information in possession of the state administration and the rights to protection of personal data are two of fundamental rights recognized at the European level. He also said that the balance between access to information and protection of rights is a subject that could always be discussed, but it is, as a substantial and basic one, contained in the European Convention on Human Rights, where the European Court for Human Rights has stated that public personae, that is civil servants, are exposed to a higher degree of criticism, hence they should be more open towards public.

Mrs. Waltraut Kotschy, also a legal expert of the OSCE, commented on the Draft Law on amendments to the Law on protection of personal data.

The participants had the opportunity to exchange their views and opinions, and to present concrete proposals, remarks and suggestions related to solutions contained in the Draft Laws that were subject of the discussion.

Public Procurement Administration