The new law on social cards has been adopted
On February 11, 2021, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on the Social Cards, which entered into force on February 25, 2021, and will be applied from March 1, 2022.
The Law defines the arrangement, establishment and management of the register called the Social Card, as well as the content of the register, the manner of access, processing and storage of data within this register.
The purpose of establishing the Social Card Register is the existence of a singular and centralized record in electronic form, which contains accurate and up-to-date data on the socio-economic status of individuals and persons associated with it and which enables data users (authorities responsible for the implementation of social protection) to perform data processing in order to establish the facts necessary for the realization of rights and services in the field of social protection.
The introduction of this system will enable citizens who are in the most difficult economic position to be more visible in society, in order to timely and efficiently exercise the rights to the necessary support.
Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs (hereinafter “the Ministry of Labor”) establishes and manages the register, while the business technical support in establishing, maintaining, ensuring data security and safety is provided by the Government Service.
The purpose of data processing is precisely defined by the law: determining the socio-economic status of the individual and persons related to him/her; automation of procedures and processes related to actions in the field of social protection as well as authorization of access to data in the Social Card; creation of social policies through determining the socio-economic status of the individual and persons related to him/her and the wider community; prevention of poverty and elimination of the consequences of social exclusion and performing statistical and other research in the field of social protection.
Single Register – Social Card, is established on the basis of data taken from the records in the field of social protection kept by the Ministry of Labor, as well as registers kept by other state bodies. The connection of the Social Card with the registers and records will be done by January 1, 2022 at the latest.
The Social Card keeps and processes general and special data on the individual and persons related to him/her, in accordance with the law governing the protection of personal data, which are necessary for determining the socio-economic status, that is for exercising rights and services from social protection in accordance with the law, as well as data on realized rights and services from social protection that the person uses or has used, data on rights and services that are in the process of realization and data on dismissed and rejected requests (unrealized rights). Exceptionally the Social Card can also process data on persons from socially endangered and vulnerable groups.
Users of data from the Social Card are centers for social work, local government units that perform entrusted tasks in the field of social protection (such as the Secretariat for Social Protection of the City of Belgrade or other bodies), the Ministry of Labor, the provincial secretariat in charge of social issues, as well as other state administration bodies and institutions.
The bylaw for the implementation of this law shall be adopted within six months from the day this law enters into the force, that is until September 1, 2022.
