The amendments to the Serbian Energy Law, enacted in late April 2021, prescribed the obligation for transmission system operators in the electricity and natural gas sector to implement the EU electricity and natural gas network codes.
Employee’s Right to Defence – Is an Employer Obliged to Enclose Evidence to the Warning on Existence of Reasons for Termination of Employment Agreement?
The Labour Law (“Official Gazette of RS”, no. 24/2005, 61/2005, 54/2009, 32/2013, 75/2014, 13/2017 – decision of the CC, 113/2017 and 95/2018 – authentic interpretation) (the “Law”) prescribes that employer shall be obliged, prior to the termination of employment agreement due to violation of working obligation or working discipline, to notify the employee in writing on the existence of reasons for such termination, as well as to provide the employee with a period of minimum eight days from the warning submission to declare on the subject allegations. Employer is obliged to state grounds for termination in the warning, as well as facts and evidence indicating the fulfilment of requirements for termination, and deadline for submitting the employee’s response thereof.
Serbia Agreed to the Statement on a Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy
The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (IF) has agreed on 8 October 2021 a two-pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy. The Republic of Serbia is one of 136 jurisdictions that have agreed to the solution.
New Amendments to the Law on Prevention of Corruption
The Law on Prevention of Corruption (the “Law”), the key piece of Serbian anti-corruption legislation that started to apply in September 2020, recently received a short set of amendments.
The Future of Electronic Documents
How certain is the development of the ever-increasing use and application of electronic documents, especially in terms of legalization of documents for international legal transactions?
Gecic Law Launches ESG Practice
Gecic Law has launched an Environmental, Social & Governance Practice.
Repeal of the Obligation to Include a Disease Code in the Report on Temporary Inability to Work
The Ministry of Health passed a new bylaw within the health care system. The Rulebook on Forms in Health Care System was published in the Official Gazette of RS no. 31/2021 on March 31, 2021, and entered into force on April 8, 2021 (the “Rulebook”).
Antitrust Proceedings Against the Biggest Suppliers of Ground Coffee
The Commission for Protection of Competition initiated ex officio antitrust proceedings against Atlantic Group, Atlantic Brands and Strauss Adriatic and conducted dawn raids, in order to investigate potential existence of restrictive agreements.
Another Gun-Jumping Investigation in Serbia
On 6 September 2021, the Competition Commission (the “Commission”) has initiated a formal procedure against company MAT – Real Estate for potential gun-jumping. The transaction concerned involves the acquisition of company Radijator d.o.o., a distributor of plumbing and heating equipment.
Agricultural Land Regulation Opens New Possibilities for the Energy Sector
Not so long ago (12 years!) Serbia adopted the amendments to the Agricultural Land Act which was supposed to allow the use of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes, mainly to support the growing renewable energy sector. Of course, this was conditioned with adopting an adequate Regulation by the Serbian Government, which everyone waited for since 2009. Finally, patience paid off and in July 2021, the Serbian Government adopted the Regulation on the conditions, manner and procedure for giving state-owned agricultural land for use for non-agricultural purposes (hereinafter: “Regulation”).
New Fiscalization Model – New Payers and New Rules, but also Subsidies
Application of the Law on Fiscalization (Official Gazette of RS no. 153/2020) (“the Law”), that we have discussed before, which has repealed Serbian Law on Fiscal Cash Registers (Official Gazette of RS no. 135/04 and 93/12) by entering into force on December 29, 2020, will start on January 1, 2022 (except for several provisions that have already started to apply, on the day of entry into force). The regulation concerned, along with the set of by-laws enacted for its implementation, introduces a completely new model of fiscalization, which – among other things – implies a wider circle of taxpayers who will be obliged to apply it, new rules regarding the characteristics of fiscal cash registers and fiscal receipts, as well as certain subsidies for the entities covered by fiscalization.
An Increase of a Minimum Wage from 1 January 2022
The Government of the Republic of Serbia passed the Decision on the level of minimum labour wage for the period January – December 2022 and it was published in the Official Gazette of RS no. 87/2021 of 10 September 2021, while it shall apply from 1 January 2022 (“the Decision”).
Whatsapp Faces Second Largest Fine for Breaching GDPR Rules
On 2 September 2021 Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced a 225 million euro fine for WhatsApp and ordered the company to amend its practices within three months. It is the largest fine ever from the DPC, and the second-highest under Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
COVID-19, Employers and Employees – Between Health Protection and Personal Data Protection
COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly brought significant changes not only to the everyday life of citizens but also to the operations of business entities, i.e. to the way of establishing and conducting the work process.
The Buzz in Serbia: Interview with Milan Petrovic of PR Legal
With an interesting legislative pipeline and a full deck of elections announced for next April, Serbia finds itself in a place of opportunity right now, according to PR Legal Partner Milan Petrovic.
The New Consumer Protection Law – Preventing Unfair Business Practices
The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted a new Law on Consumer Protection (“Law”) on 09 September 2021. The main reason for adopting the amendments to the current law lies in providing a higher level of consumer protection and trying to apply it more actively, in relation to the Law from 2014 and its subsequent amendments from 2016 and 2018. The most prominent novelty concerns direct marketing by telephone, ie the introduction of the “do not call” register. The “do not call” register is a list of landline and mobile telephone numbers of consumers who do not want to receive calls and / or messages as part of the promotion, marketing and / or sale by telephone.
Serbia: Use of State-owned Agricultural Land for Non-agricultural Purposes
In general, the Serbian Agricultural Land Act ("ALA") envisages granting the use of agricultural land, free of charge, to state-owned subjects, or, in instances where particular plots have not been leased for three or more agricultural years, agricultural land may be tendered for to be used by registered agricultural holdings.
Mandatory E-invoicing: Digitalization Is the New Mainstream in Supply Chains
In the age of digital philosophy, when the electronic management of documents become more and more prominent in both private and public sectors, digitalization of invoices is rather a logical development than an innovative approach in the functioning of the supply chain. Harmonization of e-invoicing regulation in B2G sector has been in effect for seven years in the EU, while Serbia established an e-invoice system in 2019, prescribing mandatory registration of invoices issued in commercial transactions with the public sector on the central registry of invoices (CRF). The most recent novelty in the field happened with adopting the Electronic Invoicing Act and its by-laws when a comprehensive set of rules regulating e-invoicing came into effect.