Serbian Commercial Courts Awarded for Increased Transparency
Serbia’s Commissioner of Public Information recognized Serbian commercial courts as the public institution which has contributed the most to establishing national good practices in implementing Serbia’s freedom of information law at a ceremony celebrating the International Right to Know Day. An independent jury comprised of civil society representatives chose the Commercial Courts for their efforts to open up their work for public scrutiny.
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| Freedom of Information PR material: "Enough of this! I have the right to know." |
USAID’s work with the commercial courts, including a project-designed web portal, a Court Data Collection System and Public Relations training, has led to more open and transparent communications between the courts and the public. For the first time, ordinary citizens have full-time access to hearing schedules and case statistics in the commercial courts—all via the internet.
When accepting the award, the President of the High Commercial Court, Radomir Lazarević, said that the adequate implementation of regulations was possible owing to a well-organized network of public information officers in 17 commercial courts who were trained for their job thanks to USAID’s Commercial Courts Activity. He also noted that the launching of the Court’s website secured transparency in providing information to the public regarding the work of commercial courts.
USAID’s Rule of Law program helped to organize the ceremony as part of its efforts to promote the law through a public outreach program campaign designed to inform citizens on how to use the law and to encourage compliance by public institutions.
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