Develop platform for monitoring implementation of public calls (RS0053)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address? Public calls for co-financing the production of media content are the main way of allocating and spending budget funds in the media sector. They have been established as a state aid mechanism to help produce missing content of public interest and improve the degree in which citizens are informed. 55 The analysis of the current practice of conducting public calls has shown numerous problems, and one of the most serious objections by civil society and media associations referred to the impossibility of a comprehensive analysis of the effects of of these calls (intended use of funds, quality of production content, etc.). Evaluation is largely hindered by the lack of centralized, publicly available data and documentation related to public calls (project applications and reports), as well as access to the produced content. This problem is also recognized in the Strategy for the Development of the Public Information System in the Republic of Serbia from 2020 to 2025, in item 4.4. The way to solve this problem is developmentof a single information platform, which would facilitate the search for announced calls, projects, decisions made on announced calls, submitted financial and narrative reports on realized projects, and contain links to broadcast or published media content for which the production is supported in this way. Based on the data entered in the single information platform, it would be easier to apply legal provisions prohibiting the financing of the same projects from different levels of government over a certain percentage, but also the availability of media content co-financed in this way to all citizens, in areas wider than those in which certain media are distributed. A single information platform would additionally enable greater publicity of data, bearing in mind that all relevant information would be available to all citizens of the Republic of Serbia.

What is the commitment? The commitment includes: ● Analysis of the regulatory framework and comparative practices in the application of information platforms for monitoring the implementation of public calls, with a technical specification for its development; ● Amendments to the Law on Public Information and Media which would make the use of the platform a legal obligation for all bodies that announce and conduct public calls in this area and regulate its content and manner of functioning; ● Formation and technical development of the information platform.

How will the commitment contribute to solving the public problem? The development of an information platform within this obligation will contribute to solving several problems: it will centralize all relevant data and thus facilitate the monitoring of public calls and their evaluation, facilitate and significantly improve the monitoring of budget spending, prevent possible abuses and enable greater availability of media funds.

Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values? The commitment will contribute to the improvement of several core values of the OGP. First of all, the commitmentis relevant in relation to the improvement of fiscal transparency, given that its implementation enables public 56 availability of data on the spending of budget funds intended for cofinancing media content. At the same time, it is relevant from the aspect of improving access to information, because through the information platform covered by the commitment, a much larger set of information and data on how to spend budget funds in the field of media content will be made available. In addition, this data will be centralized and available in one place, which will provide citizens and all other interested parties with easy access. The commitment is also relevant in relation to the improvement of the accountability of public authorities, since it implies the creation of clear rules for publishing data on budget spending through changes in the legal framework, but also the creation of conditions for more efficient oversight of law enforcement. Finally, bearing in mind that the commitment implies the development of an appropriate information platform, it is directly related to the use of technologies and innovations as a special value of OGP.

Additional information The commitment directly addresses the problem identified in item 4.4. of the Strategies for the development of public information in the Republic of Serbia between 2020 and 2025.

Milestone Activity with a verifiable deliverable Start date: End date: 1. Analysis of the regulatory framework and comparative practices in the application of information platforms for monitoring the implementation of public calls, with a technical specification for its development I quarter of 2021 II quarter of 2021 2. Adoption of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Public Information and Media which would make the use of the platform a legal obligation for all bodies that announce and conduct public calls in this area and regulate its content and manner of functioning II quarter of 2021 IV quarter of 2021 3. Formation and technical development of an information platform I quarter of 2021 III quarter of 2022

Action Plan Review

Commitment 11: Platform for Information on Publicly Financed Media

Results Report

Commitment 11. Platform for information on publicly financed media

● Verifiable: Yes

● Does it have an open government lens? Yes

● This commitment has been clustered as: Improvements to the Law on Public Information and Media (Commitments 11 and 12)

● Potential for results: Modest

● Completion: Limited

● Did it open government? No early results to report yet

This commitment envisioned the creation of a single information platform for monitoring co-funded media content serving the public interest. One out of three activities were fully completed, while the others saw limited completion. Analysis of the regulatory framework, and comparative practices in using information platforms for monitoring the implementation of public tenders, with technical specifications for its preparation, was implemented. The adoption of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Public Information and Media is still pending and the amendments are being drafted, as of the writing of this report. Lastly, the envisaged information platform has not been developed. The ministry has not allocated funds for the platform, and it will be necessary to train local governments on using the platform. Because of its limited completion, this commitment has not yet yielded results in opening government.