Current Law on Health Insurance (Official Gazette of RS no. 25/2019) has been applied since 11 April 2019. The Government of the Republic of Serbia prepared the amendments to this law which are currently in public debate, after which they will enter parliamentary procedure. The draft law stipulates several significant novelties that we will present in this article. If it is adopted, the application of the draft law amending the Law on Health Insurance (“the Law”) will start on 1 June 2021.

The Law on Amendments to the Law on Foreigners (Official Gazette of the RS No. 31/2019) (“Law”) entered into force on May 7, 2019, but the provisions relating to the submission of a joint application for temporary residence and work permit started to apply on December 1, 2020.

From January 1, 2021, the Business Registers Agency (“BRA“) starts to provide new services and keep a new register.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted a set of amendments to the tax laws and laws on excises, which were published in the Official Gazette of RS no. 153/2020 of December 21, 2020.

Application of the new Law on Accounting (Official Gazette of RS no. 73/2019) has started on 1 January 2020, with exception of certain provisions whose application was further delayed. This was the case with Article 9, para. 3 of this law, which will start to apply from 1 January 2022.

The Tax Administration of the Republic of Serbia has recently published a call to natural persons who acquired income abroad in the past period to file tax applications, calculate and pay taxes and contributions for mandatory social insurance with relevant interest as soon as possible, in order to avoid offence liability.

At the beginning of 2019, employers and employees disapprovingly accepted a new obligation to document the cost of transportation to and from work and the situation is no different today.

By the Regulation amending the Regulation on measures for prevention and suppression of infectious disease COVID-19, which was published in the Official Gazette of RS no. 126/2020 dated October 23, 2020, the Government of the Republic of Serbia introduced the mandatory appointment of person – corona controller by certain legal entities and entrepreneurs.

Ministry of Labor, Employment, Veterans and Social Affairs („the Ministry“) on October 15, 2020 published a notice for employers regarding the duration of annual leave, in order to eliminate doubts that some employers have when employee is on paid leave during the calendar year or is temporarily unable for work in the terms of health insurance regulations.

Pursuant to Article 16, para. 1 of the Law on Hospitality Management (Official Gazette of RS no. 17/2019), the Rulebook on the manner of entry, operation, keeping and using the central information system, its content and type of information has been adopted (Official Gazette of RS, no. 87/2020) and it has been in force since 1 October 2020 (“the Rulebook”).

In accordance with the Law on Protection of Competition that entered into force in 2009 and was amended in 2013 (the “Law”), the Commission for Protection of Competition (“Commission”) instituted ex officio antitrust proceedings for possible infringement of competition rights in the market of the Republic of Serbia against domestic legal entities dealing with retail and/or wholesale in consumer electronics.

The answer to this question is rather simple – no, by publishing employment-related documents on notice board the employer is not violating personal data of employees that such documents refer to.

In line with the new Health Care Law (“Law“) which came into force on April 11, 2019, the Business Registers Agency (“BRA“) announced the establishment of a new Register of Health Care Institutions on October 11, 2020, after which the Health Care Institutions, both private and public owned, shall be obliged to harmonise with the Register of Health Care Institutions maintained by BRA.

Independent data protection authorities (“DPA”), such as Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection in the Republic of Serbia (“Commissioner”), have significant role and authorities in case of personal data breach.

The Law on Consumer Protection (Official Gazette of RS no. 62/2014, 6/2016 – other law and 44/2018 – other law; “LCP 2014“) prescribes seller’s liability for non-conformity of goods that occurs within a period of two years after the transfer of risk to the consumer.

On 17 August 2020, the National Bank of Serbia (“NBS”) adopted the Decision on temporary measures for banks to facilitate access to financing for natural persons (“Decision”), which was published in the Official Gazette of RS no. 108 on 20 August 2020 and which will enter into force on 28 August 2020.

Privacy Shield is a legal mechanism that has been used since 2016 as a basis for data transfer from the EU to the US. Controllers subject to the Serbian Law on Personal Data Protection (“LPDP”) could also use the benefits of this arrangement given the relevant provisions of the LPDP and special decisions of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

On 30 July 2020, the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted a decision on direct payments and fiscal benefits for economic entities in private sector, with a view to mitigate economic consequences of COVID-19.