No. 07-00-424/2017-02  Date:  5 February 2018

OPINION

The present opinion was issued following a complaint procedure lodged upon a complaint filed by M.P. from B. against the municipality of B. on account of discrimination on the grounds of disability caused by coronary dysfunction. In his complaint the complainant stated that he had submitted an application with the Municipality of B. requesting that he be granted the right to park free of charge and that five months later he had received an official decision denying him the right to park free of charge as he did not meet the necessary conditions since he was a “person with coronary disability”. The complainant was of the opinion that he had been discriminated against when he was denied the right to use parking services free of charge. In the declaration responding to allegations made in the complaint, the President of the Municipality of B. stated that the effective Rulebook did not include the category of persons with disability to which the complainant belonged and that when defining requirements stipulated by the Rulebook, the Municipality of B. was guided by the Rulebook on Defining Physical Impairments, based on which only persons from most vulnerable categories were included. In the course of the complaint procedure it has been ascertained that in this particular case a special (affirmative) measure was at issue which would enable certain categories of persons with disabilities whom the Municipality of B. views as particularly disadvantaged and in need of particular support in an attempt to achieve full equality, to use public parking services free of charge. By granting the right to such benefits only to certain categories of persons with disabilities was objectively and reasonably justified, in view of the fact that pursuant to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia and the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination, envisaging special (affirmative) measures aimed at achieving full equality, protection and improvement of a person or a group of persons who are in an unequal position, shall not be considered as discrimination. Municipality of B. had defined special benefits for certain categories of persons with disabilities whom it perceives as most vulnerable. For this reason the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality has issued its opinion stating that by passing the Rulebook on the Manner and Procedure for Exercising the Right to Parking Services Free-of-charge at Designated Parking Spots in Public, General and Special Parking Lots for Persons with Disabilities and Other Persons, which stipulates in Article 4, Paragraph 1 that the right to parking services free-of-charge at designated parking spots in public, general and special parking lots as well as the right to parking services free-of-charge on all parking spots located on General Parking Lots when in possession of the Beneficiary’s Parking Card on the territory of B. shall be available only to certain categories of persons with disabilities, the Municipality of B. had not violated the provisions of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination. However, keeping in mind the importance of special measures aimed at achieving full equality of all persons with disabilities, the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, in accordance with Article 33, Item 9 of the Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination hereby issues a recommendation of measures for achieving equality to the Municipality of B. and recommends that the Municipality review the possibility of amending the Rulebook in terms of granting free-of-charge parking services to the category of persons with disabilities to which the complainant belongs, i.e. to persons who, according to the opinion, findings and report of the panel of experts, been defined as persons with a cumulative 100% physical disability.