Within the framework of the Twinning Light Project „Strenghtening the capacity of the Agency for Personal Data Protection and Free Access to Information”, between 10 and 14 December 2018 the study visit to Croatian institutions has been organised for the representatives of the Agency for Personal Data Protection and Free Access to Information.

The core objectives of the study visit were to compare the legislative and strategic frameworks for the application of the right of access to information and the re-use of information in the light of recent adjustments to the legal framework at EU level, and the analysis and comparison of the experience gained by the Information Commissioner and the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data and Free Access to Information in monitoring the implementation of the legislative framework at all levels, with emphasis on systematizing data on the treatment of public authorities within the application for submission of an annual report on the application of the right of access to information.

During the visit, a file management system of the Information Commissioner was also presented, as well as a list of public authorities and its potential extension with other functional tools such as an electronic register at the public authority level.

Information Commissioner dr.sc. Zoran Pičuljan has also presented basic plans for further work of the institution in the next five years mandate.

The study visit included a meeting at the Personal Data Protection Agency, where discussion topics were challenges in the creation and implementation of the Law on Implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation, whose takeover will also be part of the benchmark for closing a part of the negotiations in Montenegro. At the meeting of the Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society, State Secretary Bernard Gršić held an interesting presentation on the Open Data Portal and functional upgrading and further linking of the e-Citizens system. Montenegrin guests were most interested in the plans of the Central State Office in the direction of standardizing the quality of open data, collecting and systematizing them and encouraging the re-use of open data, which will be funded within the two-year project co-financed by the ESF.

During their visit to the Faculty of Law in Rijeka, guests from Montenegro had the opportunity to hear about experiences and opinions about the amended legislation in the field of administrative and administrative disputes, as well as see the presentation on the work of the Faculty of Law Library, which has accumulated an impressive number of volumes, repositories and databases in the area of domestic and European law. During the visit to the Rijeka Administrative Court, the specificities of judicial practice were discussed, as well as possible disagreements in the interpretation of the law bewteen the authorities that deal with the requirements and bodies that provide the protection of a particular right.

The study visit was completed by visiting the Croatian Parliament and the Government of the Republic of Croatia, where the Speaker of the Office of the Prime Minister of the Republic Zvonimir Frka-Petešić made a presentation of access to infomation in the system of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and the experiences of the Republic of Croatia in the pre-accession negotiations, especially in Chapter 23. Judiciary and Fundamental Rights.