Administration for Citizen Affairs of the City of Nis, administering some registry books dislocated from Kosovo, often issues registry book excerpts with incorrect personal data of citizens. The incorrect data in the documents are a result of errors made by the competent officer issuing the documents or the competent officer who entered the data in the registry books. The person who has been issued a birth or citizenship certificate with incorrect data is obliged to initiate an administrative procedure by submitting a request for correction of those data.

At the beginning of 2010, the Administration for Citizen Affairs of the City of Nis started to condition solving of the requests for correction of data in registry books by payment of republic and municipal administrative fees, as well as the fee for written notice amounting to a total of 850,00 RSD.

Even though the State administrative body is responsible for administering registry books, the one who was financially “punished” was the person who requested the correction of his/her data, since that person had to pay the fees for correction.

Praxis has addressed the above-mentioned State administration on behalf of its clients several times, pointing to existing regulations on the grounds of which the fee cannot be charged for correction of errors in official records, but without success.

In May 2010, and in relation to the same problem, Praxis addressed the Department for Administrative Inspection of the Ministry for Public Administration and Local Self-Government. At the same time, complaints have been lodged to the Ombudsperson against the work of the Administration for Citizen Affairs of the City of Nis.

Illegal practice of charging administrative fees for requests for correction of data in registry books was finally abolished following these interventions, of which Praxis was only verbally unformed by the Administration for Citizen Affairs of the City of Nis.

Soon after, in practice, the body stopped charging the fee for request for correction of data in registry books.