More than half of the 177 public companies, to which the Center for Civil Liberties (CEGAS) sent requests for free access to information (SPI), did not submit a response to that request. From the answers of those who did, it is noticeable that a large number of them do not take into account the personal data of the employees, because in the documentation they submitted, they did not previously make the personal data anonymous. In one case, Cegas was provided with an employment contract with a hygienist, while in the same company they consider the contract with the director and management to be secret.
According to the data of the Institute of Alternatives, there are 178 companies in Montenegro that are owned by the state and municipalities. According to the same data, there are over 20,5 thousand employees in those companies.
Last month, the non-governmental organization CEGAS sent requests for free access to information to the addresses of 177 state and municipal companies, with which they requested to be provided with data on the number of employees, as of December 31, 2023, as well as rules on internal organization and systematization. conditions and manner of using official vehicles, on conditions and manner of employment. From Cegas, they also asked for work contracts, a rulebook on business secrets, a collective agreement and a contract with the director and management.
Of the total number of companies, 52 percent of them did not respond to Cegas' request. Among 177 public companies, 123 are municipal and again most of them, also 52 percent, did not respond to the request of that NGO.
"If we look at public companies from several aspects, it is clear that they are left to their own devices and that the state neither legally nor fundamentally controls what is the state share, i.e. property," she told "Vijesti" Marija Popović Kalezić, executive director of CEGAS.
As she added, public companies interpret and treat the Law on Free Access to Information differently.
"When we talk about transparency, certain public companies 'feel' they are legally required to provide information and data within the legal deadline, while others respond that they are not legally obligated or simply do not respond to the request," she said.
From some companies, as she added, they refused the request with the explanation that it was unclear, and from some companies, if this was the case, they called employees of Cegas to solve the dilemmas and after that they still responded to the inquiry of that non-governmental organization.
Popović Kalezić said that the procedures regarding requests for the costs of the procedure are also different.
"Some are asking for the costs of the procedure, even those that go below two euros, while others do not want to charge the cost, even though it would significantly exceed the minimum amount defined by the Regulation on reimbursement of costs in the procedure for access to information," she said.
A similar analysis was done two years ago by the Institute of Alternatives, and Popović Kalezić says that, judging by the number of responses to requests for SPI, even today the situation has not changed significantly.
"If we compare transparency in relation to what the Institute of Alternatives presented on the website https://mojnovac.me/ for the year 2022, where transparency in that period was presented in such a way that 101 companies were completely closed out of a total of 177, today Cegas' estimate for 2024 is similar, if we take into account that 52 percent of public companies did not respond to the SPI request," she said.
Commenting on the part of the data submitted to Cegas, Popović Kalezić said that there is a surprisingly small number of public companies that, in the area of personal data protection and in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Act, take care of the protection of employees' data.
As she added, from some companies that submitted employment contracts and work contracts, they did not anonymize personal data.
"For some, the work contract with the hygienist is public information, while they consider the contract with the director and management to be secret, while the Pljevlja Coal Mine considers the company's internal documents to be confidential information. We also have companies that do not have any of the requested data in their archives, so they responded that way," she said.
From the documentation that "Vijesti" had access to, from the Public Enterprise Sports Center Nikšić, in the part of the request that refers to employment contracts with the director and management, they stated that they reject that part of the request, "since it contains personal data", and that the employment contract "determines the employer's obligation to keep employees' personal data".
From the same company, however, they submitted to Cegas the contracts for the work with the person who was hired to perform the services of unclogging and cleaning the water drain in the toilet rooms in the large hall of the Nikšić Sports Center. The documents contain the number of the employee's identity card.
According to the Data Protection Act, personal data is all information related to a natural person whose identity has been determined or can be determined.
The executive director of Cegas also said that the internal acts of public companies are not harmonized in relation to the type of acts that public companies must have.
"In addition to the rulebook on internal organization and systematization, where there are also numerous shortcomings in terms of time, method of adoption and content, especially when we talk about job descriptions and the necessary conditions for fulfillment, from certain areas, and from there it is clear in what way and how there are abuses, when numerous employments are involved, whether party or interest", she said.
As she added, "by abolishing the Law on Public Enterprises, there remains an empty space for numerous legal and essential manipulations".
"From transparency, control, methods of employment, as well as determining the amount of salary, with an emphasis on the director and management. The Law on Economic Enterprises is the only one that binds these companies, which does not protect the state interest, and then the absence of the Law on Salaries in the Public Sector leaves the possibility of disorder and inequality in that part as well. If we take into account that there are about 1.926 trade union organizations in Montenegro, and in public companies, of those that responded to the request for SPI, only half have collective agreements concluded between trade unionists and employers, which speaks of the insufficient regulation of the rights and obligations of employees and employers." , the interlocutor of "Vijesti" said.
According to the data submitted to Cegas, the majority, 71 percent of public companies, do not have a rulebook on conditions and methods of employment, 92% have a rulebook on internal organization and systematization, and 54% have a rulebook on the conditions and method of using official vehicles. More than half (51 percent) of public companies do not have a collective agreement...
Regarding the protection of personal data of employees, on March 14, the editorial office sent questions to the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data and Free Access to Information, but the Agency did not respond.
The "Academy of Knowledge" does not see what the data will do to CEGAS, the Coal Mine is waiting for the Board
The "Academy of Knowledge" from Budva rejected Cegas' request, with the explanation that it was irregular, that it was sent to the official email of the "Academy of Knowledge", "but that the submission itself was addressed to the Municipality".
They added that it was established that they do not possess some of the requested information, and that for those that the "Academy of Knowledge" possesses, "the applicant did not prove his special legal interest, which is why he is requesting the information in question, for which reasons the request should have been rejected."
The Pljevlja Coal Mine responded to Cegas' inquiry that, in accordance with the Rulebook on Business Secrets, the information requested by that NGO "constitutes a business secret", that such data can be used outside the Company "only with the approval of the Board of Directors", and that will forward the request to the Board for consideration and then "feed back" to CEGAS.
In this regard, "Vijesti" also sent questions to the Coal Mine a few days ago, but the Company did not provide an answer.
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