On the occasion of the International Right to Know Day, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance awarded the Public Policy Secretariat for its contribution to the public right to know.
In his address, the Commissioner emphasized that the Public Policy Secretariat acted in accordance with the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance, both in terms of acting on requests for access to information of public importance, and in fulfilling obligations related to the publication and updating of the Progress Report and information published on the web presentation.
The Commissioner particularly emphasized that by establishing the e-Consultation Portal and the Register of Administrative Procedures Portal, the Public Policy Secretariat has placed the public administration of the Republic of Serbia on the map of the most open public administrations not only in Europe but also worldwide. He added that the e-Consultation Portal enables full transparency of the legislative process and simple and active participation of the interested public in the preparation and adoption of public policy documents and regulations electronically, in one place. The Register of Administrative Procedures Portal provides all citizens and businessmen with clear, up-to-date and concise information for over 3,300 administrative procedures within the jurisdiction of 190 public administration bodies in one place. It also facilitates them to complete over 400 digital procedures of the public administration of the Republic of Serbia from their offices in a single access.
The Public Policy Secretariat Director, Bojana Tošić, said that this award is a motivation for further work and stimulus for even more effective improvement of the status in the area of free access to information of public importance. She emphasized the importance of transparency in the work of public authorities and expressed her gratitude for the recognition of the results of the Public Policy Secretariat as a significant contribution towards modern and efficient public administration accessible to its beneficiaries.
This year, the Commissioner has awarded the following authorities for their contribution to the affirmation of the public right to know: Public Policy Secretariat was awarded in the category of state bodies; Property Administration of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina was awarded in the category of provincial authorities; the Municipality of Kanjiža was awarded in the category of local self-government bodies; the Higher Court in Pirot was awarded in the category of judicial authorities; the Primary School “Kralj Petar Prvi” from Niš was awarded in the category of other authorities.