Opposition members, mostly Social Democrats, objected that the bill on data confidentiality would make it possible for local government units and legal persons with public authority to withhold from the public data related to their performance by citing official secret as the reason.
Assistant Justice Minister Velimir Colovic said that the bill was in line with EU and NATO standards and that the Office of the Council for National Security would inspect its implementation to reduce the possibility of its abuse.
The Committee did not endorse the bill on the system of information security either because SDP members objected that it did not eliminate the possibility that individual intelligence agencies might, when and if they wanted to, control all bodies in possession of confidential data.
Two SDP members of the Committee voted against the bill, one SDP deputy and one Peasant Party (HSS) deputy abstained, while three HDZ members voted in favour.