Serbia became member of the European Patent Organisation (EPO) on 1 October 2010 . As a result, the procedure of filing patent applications will become simple r and less exp ensive. Serbian applicant s will no longer have to go through the examination procedure in e ach EPO country separately but may file only one […]
As BDK reported in Newsletter 7/2009, the current Law on Protection of Competition that came into force in July 2009 significantly boosts the powers of the Serbian Commission for Protection of Competition (“Commission”) by vesting it with the authority to impose fines (dubiously concealed under the euphemism ”pecuniary measures for protection of competition”). According to […]
Bosnia & Herzovina, Market Intelligence – Energy Tariffs The State Electricity Regulatory Commission – SERC is competent for regulation of tariffs in relation to electricity in B&H, the Federation Electricity Regul atory Commission – FERC is competent for regulation of tariffs in relation to electricity in the Fe deration of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the Regulatory Commission […]
Regulation of lending Banking monopoly rules. There is a fairly strict banking monopoly law limiting lender activities in Serbia. However, there are methods of lending available to foreign lenders. Regulatory distinction between loans and credits. Serbian law distinguishes between the credit agreement (ugovor o kreditu) and the loan agreement (ugovor o zajmu). A credit is a banking transaction. Only a bank licensed by the National […]
Five months after adoption of the new Law on Planning and Construction1 (“Law”), the Serbian Government has enacted the Decree on Criteria and Procedure for Determination of Conversion Compensation2 (“Decree”). The Decree is supposed to enable the commencement of the process of privatization of construction land envisaged by the Law. By virtue of the Decree, […]
The Serbian Parliament has recently adopted the Law on Stimulating Construction Industry, (“Law”) purportedly aiming at boosting Serbian construction industry in the environment of pending financial crisis. The Law enables the Government to reach for taxpayers’ money in order to finance a wide range of construction projects, including motorways, public housing, schools, hospital etc. It […]
Serbia’s new Law on Bankruptcy (Zakon o stečaju, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, n.104/09) partially ends legal uncertainties as to the enforceability of ISDA Master Agreements or similar netting agreements against Serbian parties in the event of insolvency. The new Law explicitly addresses close-out netting in the context of “financial contracts” including financial […]
The Law on Professional Rehabilitation and Employment of Disabled Persons (the “Law”) introduces an obligation on all employers having 20 or more employees to maintain on their payroll a certain number of disabled persons. This obligation will come into force on 24 May 2010. Start-ups are exempt from the application of the Law for the […]
DERIVATIVES In 2007, the Serbian Tax Authority opined that the amount payable by resident to non-resident under interest rate swap is regarded as payment of interest subject to withholding tax at the rate of 20% (unless there is a DTT providing otherwise). The Tax Authority does not recognize netting in this case and holds that […]
(Zakon o elektronskom dokumentu, Službeni Glasnik RS no. 51/2009) The new Law on Electronic Documents, in force as of 21 July 2009, represents an important step towards a more precise regulation of the fast-expanding and largely unregulated area of electronic activities. The Law defines electronic document (E-document) as a collection of letters, numbers, symbols, graphics, […]
