Several amendments to the by-laws passed to the Law on Electronic Invoicing (“the Law”) are published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia no. 46 dated 8 April 2022, i.e.:

Amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance (“the Law”) from 2019, notably Article 11 thereof, have eradicated the practical issues that used to exist in relation to the mandatory social insurance of persons working for foreign employers in Serbia.

Starting from March 23, 2022, Serbian Business Registers Agency (“the SBRA”) has allowed the use of electronic signature in cloud in the Special Information System for drafting and submission of financial statements.

On 4 April 2022, the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Serbia published the Explanation on Annual Citizens’ Income Tax for 2021.

An interesting case occurred before a while in Norway, when the authority competent for personal data protection was subject to complaint for infringement of the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (“GDPR”).

According to the Law on Archival Materials and Services (Official Gazette of RS no. 6/2020) (“the Law”), creators and holders of archival and documentary material shall be obliged, in addition to other obligations set out by the Law and by-laws passed thereunder, to submit to the competent archive a transcript of archive book no later than April 30 of the current year, for documentary material created in the previous year.

Acting on the filed request for establishing of the violation of right to personal data protection, the Croatian data protection authority (“Authority”) passed on December 30, 2021, a decision pursuant to which publishing of personal data shall not be held violation of the right to protection thereof provided that it is made for the public interest.

The Croatian data protection authority has recently passed a decision establishing the violation of the right to personal data protection in terms of the articles 5, 6 and 14 of the General Data Protection Regulation of EU 2016/679 (“GDPR”), due to a phone call made to the number listed in “Do-not-call” registry.

At the end of 2021, there was a public debate on the Draft Law on Internship, proposed by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs (“the Draft”), while the final proposal is pending.

The Republic Geodetic Authority (“RGA”) has recently, within implementation of the new real estate cadastre information system, launched a Cadastral Alarm, which serves to monitor the cases, i.e. changes relating to real estate.

On January 1, 2022, certain provisions of Articles of the Rulebook on Electromagnetic Compatibility (Official Gazette of RS no. 25/2016 and 21/2020) ceased to apply, as well as of the Rulebook on Electrical Equipment Intended for Use within Certain Voltage Limits (Official Gazette of RS no. 25/2016 and 21/2020), which refer to the conformity certificate, i.e., its mandatory provision.

Amendments to the Law on Patents (the “Law”) entered into force on December 23, 2021, upon publication in the Official Gazette of RS no. 123/2021 as of December 15, 2021. The amendments were initially enacted for alignment of the Law with the EU regulations on intellectual property, as well as for elimination of certain deficiencies observed in its application.

On December 17, 2021, amendments to the Customs Law published in the Official Gazette of RS no. 118/2021 as of December 9, 2021 (the “Law”) entered into force. Outlined below is an overview of the key novelties, that were notably enacted for alignment with the changes introduced in the EU customs regulations.

On November 16, 2021, the Law on Amendments to the Law on Procedure of Registration in the Business Registers Agency (Official Gazette of RS no. 105/2021) (the “Law”) has entered into force, while the application of certain provisions has been postponed for the prescribed period.

On November 16, 2021, amendments to the Law on Free Access to the Information of Public Importance (the “Law”) entered into force, as they had been published in the Official Gazette of the RS no. 105/2021 of November 8, 2021, whereby they were passed for the purpose of alignment with relevant regulations adopted in the meantime, such as the Law on Data Secrecy and the Law on Personal Data Protection, and international standards in the respective field, as well as introduction of mechanisms to ensure that the authorities act in accordance with their legal duties, and that information seekers enact their rights under the Law exclusively for the purposes stipulated therein.

The Government of Serbia has recently adopted the Proposal for Amendments to the Companies Law (the “Proposal”), which official text states that its primary goal is to promote the protection of minority shareholders, in accordance with measures provided by the Action Plan of the Program for Improvement of Position of the Republic of Serbia on the World Bank’s Business List – Doing Business for the period 2020-2023. In addition, the respective novelties imply other changes as well, the most significant being those referring to the position of entrepreneurs, and court protection in case of business address abuse.

The Law on Amendments to the Law on Tax Procedure and Tax Administration (Official Gazette of RS, no. 96/2021) (the “Law”) was adopted on October 16, 2021. The novelties introduced by this piece of regulation particularly include those referring to the filing of tax application for calculated mandatory social insurance contributions for company founders and/or shareholders, deferral of interest payment for settled obligations, replacement of insurance instruments for collection of due taxes, and issuance of additional record.

On October 9, 2019, the Court of Appeal of Brussels passed judgment 2019/AR/1006 whereby it established, pursuant to and in accordance with Article 16 of the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), that banks are obliged to use correct diacritics when spelling clients’ names, since these are personal data, and therefore subject to accurate writing.