no. 011-00-4/2024-02 date: 3.10.2024.
Acting within the competences prescribed by law[1] to monitor the implementation of laws and other regulations, initiate the adoption or amendment of laws, and give an opinion on the provisions of draft laws and other regulations to promote equality and protection against discrimination, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality sends to the Ministry of Internal Affairs the following:
INITIATIVE
to amend Article 25, paragraph 5, Article 27, paragraph 1, and Article 28, paragraph 2 of the Rulebook on the behavior and personal appearance of police officers and other employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (“Official Gazette of the RS,” nos. 13/18 and 83/21)
Description
Article 25. The Rulebook on the behavior and personal appearance of police officers and other employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reads:
“Employees come to the workplace appropriately and neatly dressed, suitable for the work they perform. They must not damage the reputation of the Ministry with their appearance and way of dressing.
The following are considered inappropriate clothing: shorts, ripped jeans, jeans with conspicuous applications, clothes with a large neckline, straps, openings on the back, stomach, and other parts of the body, inappropriately short skirts and dresses, skirts and dresses with large slits that reveal parts of the body, transparent clothes, clothes with conspicuous applications, obscene and provocative content, sports clothes and slippers.
The female employee can wear discreet make up with appropriate jewelry.
Wearing piercings and other inappropriate fashion details in visible places is forbidden.
Tattoos on visible parts of the body are not allowed, and if they exist, they should be covered by clothes.
Rules from paragraphs 1-5 of this article are not applied when necessary due to operational work in the field.”
Article 27, paragraph 1 of the Rulebook reads:
„A uniformed police officer cannot wear a beard, but he can wear a mustache, which must not exceed the height of the upper lip line.”
Article 28, paragraph 2 of the Rulebook reads:
„A uniformed male police officer cannot wear earrings. Uniformed female police officers may not wear more than one pair of earrings of an inconspicuous shape, color, and size.“
Attendees of the Center for Basic Police Training in Sremska Kamenica, as well as employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, addressed the Commissioner for Protection of Equality with a complaint that they were discriminated against based on their appearance—because of tattoos on visible parts of their bodies.
Previously, in 2022, a professional police association addressed a letter to the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, pointing out the provisions of Art. 25 and 27 of the Rulebook on the behavior and personal appearance of police officers and other employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and their non-compliance with anti-discrimination regulations.
[1] Article 33 point 7 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination (Official Gazette of RS, 22/09 and 52/21)
COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY
Brankica Janković
