09. 08. 2008

OMBUDSMAN AGAINST RATEL'S "TECHNICAL CONDITIONS" RULEBOOK

Belgrade, August 9th, 2008 (Politika Daily) - Saša Janković recommended that document on Internet communications monitoring be withdrawed  until Personal Data Protection Act is passed

Ombudsman Saša Janković requested the Republic Broadcasting Agency for Telecommunications (RATEL) to withdraw the controversial “Technical Conditions” document for Internet service providers, which obliges ISPs to install equipment for monitoring of Internet and electronic mail messages.

“After having considered the “Technical Conditions” document, and bearing in mind the opinion of RATEL representative, Ombudsman is of the opinion that the “Technical Conditions for Subsystems, Equipment, Tolls and Installations of Internet Network” document, apart from achieving its aim of defining technical conditions that provide the relevant state institutions with the potential to perform monitoring of Internet communication in the legally prescribed way, at the same time creates potential for abuses and prevents, that is, significantly complicates the execution of control of the way how limitation of the right to privacy of communication is being performed,” says the Ombudsman’s recommendation to RATEL that was published yesterday.

At the same time, according to Janković, in the absence of quality legal framework for personal data protection, certain provisions of Serbian Constitution leave space for abuses and illegal infringement of the constitutionally guaranteed right to protection of such data.

“This is why the Ombudsman, while acting preventively within his legally and constitutionally prescribed jurisdiction, provides his opinion and recommends to the Managing Board of the Telecommunication Agency to withdraw their “Technical Conditions for Subsystems, Equipment, Tools and Installations of Internet Network” document from July 11th, 2008, until a Personal Data Protection Act is adopted, and in the meantime, to reconsider certain provisions of the “Technical Conditions” document, including the ways and means for publishing and passing of this legal document, all in cooperation with the Ombudsman, and through a constructive dialogue with experts on human rights, security and telecommunications, in order to improve this document and its provisions,” reads the Ombudsman’s recommendation to RATEL

Related News:

* ANEM to Condemn RATEL's Technical Conditions Document and Way of Its Adoption (ANEM Statement, July 29th, 2008)