Serbia has recently undertaken or announced several administrative and legislative measures aimed at controlling retail prices of certain FMCG.
The Price Margin Decree
The controversial Price Margin Decree[1] came into force on 1 September 2025, and is set to remain in effect until 1 March 2026. It caps wholesale and retail margins at 20% for food, household chemicals, and personal care products. The Decree applies only to wholesalers and retailers whose 2024 revenue exceeded the thresholds set in the Decree. The Price Margin Decree also caps the fees the retailers can charge to their suppliers (such as marketing or listing fees) at 10% of the total net amount invoiced by the supplier during the overall period of the Decree’s application. Additionally, logistics rebates and write-offs are limited to 3% and 1%, respectively (the Decree does not specify the base). The Decree requires the affected wholesalers and retailers to submit their price lists to the Ministry of Trade once a week.
Price monitoring platform announced
Earlier this month, in a further effort to control prices, the Ministry of Trade announced plans to launch a price-monitoring platform. According to the Ministry, the platform’s database will be built using data provided by retail chains.
The exact launch date and details on how the platform will operate have not yet been disclosed.
There are several open questions regarding the functioning of the future platform:
- Under the current Price Margin Decree, retail chains which are subject to the Decree are required to submit price lists to the Ministry once a week. It is unclear whether the platform’s database will pick up this weekly data or the retailers will be required to submit their prices on a different schedule.
- The scope of products to be included on the platform is not yet defined.
- The scope of retailers whose prices will be featured on the platform is still unknown.
New legislation on prevention of unfair practices in food supply chain is in the pipeline
Serbia has recently launched the process for preparation of a draft new legislation aimed at preventing unfair trading practices in the agricultural and food supply chain. The legislation aims to protect suppliers with limited bargaining power from unfair trading practices by economically stronger buyers. It is to be based on EU Directive 2019/633.
Since no first draft has yet been issued, the criteria for designating protected suppliers and buyers with significant market power are still unknown. It is also still unknown which authority will be in charge of enforcement.
[1] Regulation on Special Conditions for Conducting Trade in Certain Types of Goods (“Official Gazette of the RoS”, Nos. 76/2025, 78/2025 and 93/2025).
