The members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted today the Amendments to the law on the protection of competition, the Amendments to the law on electronic commerce, the Bill on export and import of dual-use goods and the Bill on trade and lease of immovable property.
The Amendments to the law on the protection of competition align the law with the European Acts and foresee the extension of the period of limitation and proceedings before the Commission for the protection of competition from three to five years.
Because in practice the three year period proved to be insufficient due to the complex procedures, the frequent need for obtaining extensive documentation, as well as the fact that certain cases are extremely complex. That period, however, may not be longer than 10 years.
These amendments specify and define the participant’s dominant position in the market – until now, those who participated in 40% or more of the market had the dominant position, while now participation will merely be one of the parameters for defining the dominant position.
Pursuant to the proposed solutions, one who has less than a 40% share in the market may have a dominant position, while the one with more than a 40% share may not necessarily have the dominant position, because other parameters will be taken into account such as the financial strength of market participants, technological advances and the structure of the market.
The mechanism of charging default interest at the expense of the Commission shall be abolished, because until now in the case of the overthrow of the Commission’s decision in the court, it reimbursed the money that was taken away, while the interest was paid from its funds.
The European Commission considered that this affects the independence of the Commission and that it complicates its work. Now the interest will be paid from the budget, and not from the funds of the Commission.
The Amendments to the law on the protection of competition shall enter into force on the 8th day of their publication in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”.
The members of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted today the Bill on export and import of dual-use goods, the essence of which is harmonization with the European standards, ensuring tight control and elimination of unwanted exports and trade in these products.
That Law introduces the concept of “comprehensive clause”, which means the expansion of the list of goods that can have dual use and for which one must seek permission from the relevant institutions, and this is something on which the EU insisted.
Another novelty is the introduction of the obligation to obtain a license for the provision of brokerage services and technical support is introduced. The validity date of the license so far was one year, now there is a possibility of an automatic extension of six months.
The deadline for deciding on applications for export is 10 days from the date of receiving the special approval from the Ministry of Trade, which means that the total period to respond to the application is one month.
In this period, an approval must be provided by the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Security Information Agency (BIA), and within 10 days from that date, the Ministry of Foreign Trade has to give its final decision, that is an export license or an import license.
A possibility is left open to speedily issue the license without obtaining all the approvals under certain conditions; for example when it comes to the export or import of goods for the need of the Republic of Serbia or any other country or when it comes to humanitarian aid or donations in emergency situations. The amendment of an already issued permit is also possible.
The Law on export and import of dual-use goods shall enter into force on the 8th day of its publication in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”.
The Amendments to the law on electronic commerce, which should provide legal protection to electronic trade, were also adopted.
The novelty in that law is that it gives the market inspector the possibility to ban the provision of services when there is a violation of the Law; and it will include all those who provide services in Serbia while their headquarters are not in the country.
Certain fines were increased up to five times, while certain provisions regarding electronic signatures were deleted.
This Law shall enter into force on the 8th day of its publication in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”.
The Bill on trade and lease of immovable property was also adopted today in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. The Law foresees the introduction of a professional exam for entrepreneurs, and that only registered brokers will be allowed to work.
The adoption of this Law will provide legal safety for citizens and legal entities as the area of mediation in the trade and leasing of property has not been legally regulated until now, and that the total value of the real estate market is around 110 billion RSD per year, two-thirds of which through illegal or unregistered transactions.
The Law on trade and lease of immovable property shall enter into force on the 8th day of its publication in the “Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”.
