The Foreign Investors Council (FIC) held on July 8, 2019 Reality Check Conference dedicated to the Personal Data Protection Law and its implementation, with Minister of Justice Nela Kuburović as a keynote speaker and representatives of the FIC, the Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection as panellists. The discussion was focused on issues regarding the application of the new Personal Data Protection Law which is fundamentally linked to both predictability and securing legal certainty that are of crucial importance to all investors present in Serbia. The event attracted more than 120 attendees, mainly general counsels and IT specialists from FIC members.
In the introductory speech, FIC Board Member Goran Pekez conveyed that the Foreign Investors Council welcomes the adoption of the new Personal Data Protection Law and harmonization with the relevant EU directives. At the same time, FIC members have identified a number of uncertainties and issues related to full compliance with the new regulation. “The FIC has taken on the initiative to gather the most relevant stakeholders and try to gain better insight into rights and obligations deriving from the new law. We hope that this is only the start of the dialogue regarding this significant law whose application starts in August this year. To that end, we should set a goal to continue the dialogue in months to come and try to jointly work on resolving the issues deriving from the practise”, concluded FIC Board member Goran Pekez.
The panel discussion that followed featured: Prof. Saša Gajin, PhD, co-author of the Personal Data Protection Law, Zlatko Petrović, Ministry of Justice, Head of Group for Supervision over Data Protection and co-author of the Personal Data Protection Law, Nevena Ružić, Assistant Secretary General Sector for Harmonization of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Zlatko Petrović, Assistant Secretary General Sector for Supervision of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Radoje Gvozdenović, Assistant Secretary General Sector for IT of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, Dušan Lalić, President of FIC Leasing and Insurance Committee and Igor Živkovski, President of FIC Legal Committee. The moderator was FIC Executive Director Aleksandar Ljubić.
Igor Živkovski, Živković Samardžić Corporate and M&A Partner and President of FIC Legal Committee, said: “This Conference covered all relevant aspects of the application of regulations in the personal data protection field. A substantial debate between representatives of the FIC, the Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection provided us with realistic insights into regulations in this field. A lot of topics were covered during the discussion and most outstanding legal issues related to the upcoming application of the Personal Data Protection Law were clarified. Thank you to all panellists for sharing their insights and perspectives on this topic and FIC for organizing the Conference”.
After panel discussion, FIC members had the opportunity to share their views and pose questions. The event resulted with the joint conclusion that the FIC, the Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection need to deepen their cooperation regarding this important piece of legislation as well as other important questions.