The amendments envisage that elected and government-appointed officials will no longer be subjected to a Level One background check, but to a Level Three.
Level One enables the Security and Intelligence Agency to check officials' accounts, their habits and positions from the age of 18 to the day of the background check as well as to talk to their neighbours, subject them to a lie detector test and tap their phones.
Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said the Level One background check burdened the intelligence system because of the huge number of people involved and reduced the system's efficiency in other tasks.
He said there were no obstacles to subjecting appointed officials to the Level Three background check, which provides security clearance for "confidential" data, while Level One is required for security clearance for "top secret" data.