Supervision by the National Assembly

The National Assembly preforms supervision of the security services’ activities directly and through the competent National Assembly Committee. The Committee shall in particular:

 

• supervise the constitutionality and legality of the security services’ activities;
• oversee the compliance of the work of the security services with the National Security Strategy, Defense Strategy and security-intelligence policy of the Republic of Serbia;
• oversee the implementation of the principles of political, ideological and interest neutrality in the activities of security services;
• oversight of the legality of implementation of special procedures and measures for covert data gathering;
• oversee the implementation of the principles of political, ideological and interest neutrality in the activities of security services;
• supervise legality of implementation of special procedures and measures for secret data collection;
• supervise the legality of spending the budget funds and other resources allocated for the security services’ activities;
• consider and approve reports on their activities;
• offer opinions on draft laws, other regulations and general acts within the remit of the security services;
• launch initiatives and submit draft laws within the remit of the security services;
• consider proposals, petitions and representations submitted by the citizens to the National Assembly as well as put forward measures for addressing the above and inform their submitters thereof;
• establish the facts about illegalities or irregularities observed in the work done by the security services and their members, and adopt conclusions thereon;
• inform the National Assembly of its conclusions and proposals.

 

The Committee Meeting

The security service director is obligated to attend the Committee meeting when summoned. If the security service director is unable to come to such a meeting, he shall assign his deputy or authorized representative to attend it. The Committee meetings can be closed to the public. In that case, the Committee Chair shall inform the public of the Committee’s activities in accordance with the decisions taken at the Committee meeting.

 

Reporting to the Committee

The security service director submits a report on the work of the service to the Committee at least once in the course of the regular session of the National Assembly (regular report). The security service director also submits report to the Committee if needed or at the Committee’s request (extraordinary report).

 

Direct Oversight

At the Committee’s request, the security service director is obliged to enable the members of the Committee to access the security service official premises, allow them to inspect documentation, provide data and information on the security service activities and reply to their inquiries about the work of the service. The Committee members are not entitled to request the security services to provide information on the following:

• identity of the current and former associates of the service;
• members of the service with hidden identities;
• third persons who would be exposed to danger by disclosure of the aforementioned information;
• methods of obtaining intelligence and security information;
• actions in progress;
• manner of implementing special procedures and measures;
• data and information obtained through the exchange with foreign services and international organizations;
• other state authorities’ confidential data and classified information which are in the possession of the security service.

 

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