Economy Profile of Serbia

Ease of Doing Business in Serbia

Rankings on Doing Business topics – Serbia

Topic Scores

Starting a Business

This topic measures the number of procedures, time, cost and paid-in minimum capital requirement for a small- to medium-sized limited liability company to start up and formally operate in each economy’s largest business city.

To make the data comparable across 190 economies, Doing Business uses a standardized business that is 100% domestically owned, has start-up capital equivalent to 10 times the income per capita, engages in general industrial or commercial activities and employs between 10 and 50 people one month after the commencement of operations, all of whom are domestic nationals. Starting a Business considers two types of local limited liability companies that are identical in all aspects, except that one company is owned by 5 married women and the other by 5 married men. The ranking of economies on the ease of starting a business is determined by sorting their scores for starting a business. These scores are the simple average of the scores for each of the component indicators.

The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in May 2019. See the methodology for more information.

What the indicators measure

Procedures to legally start and formally operate a company (number)

Preregistration (for example, name verification or reservation, notarization)
Registration in the economy’s largest business city
Postregistration (for example, social security registration, company seal)
Obtaining approval from spouse to start a business or to leave the home to register the company
Obtaining any gender specific document for company registration and operation or national identification card

Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)
Does not include time spent gathering information
Each procedure starts on a separate day (2 procedures cannot start on the same day)
Procedures fully completed online are recorded as ½ day
Procedure is considered completed once final document is received
No prior contact with officials

Cost required to complete each procedure (% of income per capita)
Official costs only, no bribes
No professional fees unless services required by law or commonly used in practice

Paid-in minimum capital (% of income per capita)
Funds deposited in a bank or with third party before registration or up to 3 months after incorporation

To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the procedures are used. It is assumed that any required information is readily available and that the entrepreneur will pay no bribes.

The business:

-Is a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent). If there is more than one type of limited liability company in the economy, the limited liability form most common among domestic firms is chosen. Information on the most common form is obtained from incorporation lawyers or the statistical office.

-Operates in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city.

-Performs general industrial or commercial activities such as the production or sale to the public of goods or services. The business does not perform foreign trade activities and does not handle products subject to a special tax regime, for example, liquor or tobacco. It is not using heavily polluting production processes.

-Does not qualify for investment incentives or any special benefits.

-Is 100% domestically owned.

-Has five business owners, none of whom is a legal entity. One business owner holds 30% of the company shares, two owners have 20% of shares each, and two owners have 15% of shares each.

-Is managed by one local director.

-Has between 10 and 50 employees one month after the commencement of operations, all of them domestic nationals.

-Has start-up capital of 10 times income per capita.

-Has an estimated turnover of at least 100 times income per capita.

-Leases the commercial plant or offices and is not a proprietor of real estate.

-Has an annual lease for the office space equivalent to one income per capita.

-Is in an office space of approximately 929 square meters (10,000 square feet).

-Has a company deed that is 10 pages long.

The owners:

-Have reached the legal age of majority and are capable of making decisions as an adult. If there is no legal age of majority, they are assumed to be 30 years old.

-Are in good health and have no criminal record.

-Are married, the marriage is monogamous and registered with the authorities.

-Where the answer differs according to the legal system applicable to the woman or man in question (as may be the case in economies where there is legal plurality), the answer used will be the one that applies to the majority of the population.

Starting a Business – Serbia

Figure – Starting a Business in Serbia – Score

Figure – Starting a Business in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of starting a business is determined by sorting their scores for starting a business. These scores are the simple average of the scores for each of the component indicators.

Figure – Starting a Business in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

* This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure.

Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a different procedure list for men and women, the graph shows the time for women. For more information on methodology, see the Doing Business website (http://doingbusiness.org/en/methodology). For details on the procedures reflected here, see the summary below.

Details – Starting a Business in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

1 Notarize the memorandum of association

Agency : Public Notary

The founders shall notarize 3 copies of agreement on foundation of the company before the Public Notary and provide Serbian Business Registers Agency (hereinafter the "SBRA") with one notarized copy, among other documents, according to the Article 10 of the new Rulebook on the Contents of the Register of Business Entities and the Documentation Needed for Registration (“The Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, no. 6/2012).

1 day

RSD 300 per signature per

copy (without VAT)

The notary fees are regulated by the Tariff for Public Notaries (Javnobeležnička tarifa, "Official Gazette of RS", No. 91/2014, 103/2014, 138/2014, 12/2016, and 17/2017), which provides for a "points"-based amount of the fees. According to Art. 10, the value of one point is RSD 150 without VAT. According to Tariff 8 of the Art. 21, the notary fee for verification of signatures on a private document by which the notary confirms that the parties in the legal transaction or the parties which make a legal statement personally signed or personally placed a fingerprint, is 2 points per signature and per copy of a notary document. Therefore, notary fee for certification of one signature on the MoA is RSD 300 (i.e., 2 points * 150 RSD/per point) without VAT. Provided that it is assumed that 5 founders are creating an LLC, the applicable fee for the case study company is RSD 1,500 (i.e., RSD 300 * 5 signatures) per copy.

Two additional copies of the MoA need to be certified. This can be done by either "original" certification (i.e., RSD 300 per signature per copy), or by certifying the copy of the original MoA, which is done at the rate of 2 points (i.e., RSD 300 without VAT, based on the Tariff 10 of the Art. 21) per page.

2 Open a bank account and pay registration fees

Agency : Bank

The registration fees must be paid at a commercial bank. The proof of payment is required at the moment of registration with the Serbian Business Registration Agency.

The Company Law does not provide for the minimum amount of the company's initial capital that needs to be paid-in until the company's registration with the SBRA. However, in case the Foundation Act prescribes that the relevant amount of the capital contribution is going to be paid until the company's registration, the temporary bank account should be opened with the commercial bank. Otherwise, once the company is registered with the SBRA, the capital contribution will be paid-in directly to the company's permanent bank account.

Once the company is registered with the SBRA, the permanent bank account should be opened with the commercial bank. In case the temporary bank account was opened before the company's registration with the SBRA, the funds will be transferred to the permanent bank account.

Otherwise, once the company is registered with the SBRA, the capital contribution will be paid-in directly to the company's permanent bank account.

In order to open the permanent bank account, the bank is generally provided with the following documents:

Request for opening of the permanent bank account (original);
Specimen signatures card (original);
Contract on opening and maintaining of a RSD/foreign currency account (original);
The company’s excerpt from the SBRA, not older than three months (original or certified copy);
Certificate on the tax identification number, issued by the Tax Authority (copy);
Certified signatures of the persons authorized to dispose with the funds (original or certified copy); and
Passport or ID card of the persons authorized to dispose with the funds (copy).

In case an authorized person opens the permanent bank account, on behalf of the company, the bank should also be provided with (i) a Power of Attorney (original or certified copy), and (i) a copy of passport or ID card of the authorized person.

The Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (Zakon o sprečavanju pranja novca i finansiranja terorizma, "Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", Nos. 20/2009, 72/2009, 91/2010 and 139/2014) provides that in order to open the permanent bank account, the bank must verify the company’s ownership structure. Therefore, the bank must be provided with the registry excerpt for each legal entity in the company’s ownership chain, holding directly or indirectly 25% or more of the ownership interest. This procedure shall be repeatedly carried out down to the ultimate owners, i.e. private individuals who hold directly or indirectly 25% or more of the ownership interest.

1 day (simultaneous with previous procedure)

RSD 4,900 (administrative fee for foundation of a limited liability company) + RSD 1,000 (fee for registration and publication of the Incorporation Act)

3 Apply and obtain the registration certificate, tax identification number, pension fund (PIO Fund)and Health Fund certificates, certify the signatures (three copies) for opening bank account

Agency : Serbian Business Registers Agency (SBRA)

According to the Rulebook on Issuing of Tax Identification Number for Legal Entities, Entrepreneurs and Other Entities Registered with the Business Registers Agency (Pravilnik o dodeli poreskog identifikacionog broja pravnim licima, preduzetnicima i drugim subjektima za čiju je registraciju nadležna Agencija za privredne registre, "Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", no.32/2009, 70/2010, 6/2012 and 11/2016), the Serbian Business Registers Agency provides the company with the certificate on the tax identification number (issued by the Tax Authority) together with the certificate on registration of the company with the Serbian Business Registers Agency.

Legal entities, sole traders and other entities when apply for incorporation with SBRA submit only JRPPS form through which they can simultaneously apply also for flat-rate taxation or VAT with Tax authority. Legal entities, sole traders and other entities are no longer required to submit additional documents to the local Tax authority.

Upon receiving the required authorization in the application for the company’s registration, the Serbian Business Registers Agency:

forwards to the competent Pension and Disability Insurance Fund the application for insurance, on behalf of the founders who state in their application that they will not be employed in the company, and an application for registration of commencement of the company’s business activity; and
forwards to the Republic Health Insurance Fund the necessary data for registration of a payer of health insurance. If the requirements for registration of a payer of health insurance with the Republic Health Insurance Fund are not fulfilled, the company will be registered with the Serbian Business Registers Agency and referred to the Republic Health Insurance Fund for the registration as a payer of health insurance.

In order to register the company with the SBRA, the following documents need to be submitted:

Application form (can be downloaded free of charge from the official web page of the SBRA www.apr.gov.rs);
Foundation Act with certified signatures of the company's founders (shareholders);
Proof of identity of the company's founders (if the founder is natural person: for Serbian nationals – photocopy of personal ID card, and for foreign nationals – photocopy of passport; if the founder is legal entity: original extract from the commercial registry);
Decision on Appointment of Representatives (if the representatives are not specified in the Foundation Act);
Bank confirmation of the payment of the contribution in cash if the contribution is payable prior to incorporation, i.e., founders’ agreement on the appraisal of the value of contribution in kind if the contribution is made to the company prior to incorporation;
Proof of payment of the registration fee; and
Power of Attorney (if an attorney files the registration).

Documents in a foreign language must be accompanied by their translation into Serbian, certified by a certified court interpreter.

Under the Law on Procedure of Registration with the Business Registers Agency (Zakon o postupku registracije u Agenciji za privredne registre, "Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", No. 99/2011), the Serbian Business Registers Agency must issue its decision on registration within 5 (five) days from the date of receipt of the application for registration. Usually the Agency brings decree on the next business day, and in more complicated cases within 3 days. The company’s registration is published on the official web-page of the Serbian Business Registers Agency.

The amendments of the Companies Act, which were adopted in June of 2018 and became effective in October of 2018, allow for digital signing of the memorandum of association, in which case a registration of the new business can be made electronically. However, online registration is currently available only for single-shareholder companies (either individual or a domestic legal entity).

According to the Serbia Law on Chambers of Commerce, all companies registered with the Serbian commercial registry (i.e. Serbian Business Registers Agency) are automatically registered with the Serbian Chamber of Commerce as its members as of the date of their registration with the Serbian commercial registry. There is no separate registration form or proceeding. In the first year after the registration with the commercial register, the Chamber of Commerce does not charge the membership fee. Afterwards, the membership fee is determined by the General Assembly of the Chamber of Commerce on annual basis. It depends on the size of the legal entity and its revenue.

2 days no charge

4 Make stamp and seal

Agency : Sealmaker

Although use of the stamp is not mandatory under the new Companies Act, a majority of the companies in Serbia are still using the stamps in their business operations in order to have additional level of security in the legal actions. In addition, contrary to the provisions of the new law, some authorities still require the stamps to be affixed on business letters/documents of the companies. Although the National Bank of Serbia adopted changes to legislation according to which seal is not mandatory for opening bank accounts and in bank transactions, some commercial banks have not implemented these changes in practice yet and continue asking for a seal due to the bank's templates of documentation.

1 day RSD 1,660 – RSD 2,800

Page 9

Register the employment contracts with the Employment Organization/Fund

Agency : Employment organization/Fund – Central Registry of Compulsory Social Insurance (CROSO)

The new and old forms M1 are replaced by the form M, which includes employee's application for registration with social insurance, health care insurance and insurance against unemployment (application may be downloaded online from the website http://www.pio.rs). Starting from January

2018, the registration of employee must be performed before employee's commence work.

Less than one day

(online procedure)

no charge

Companies register employees online at www.crosco.gov.rs.

Pursuant to the Regulation on Unique Application for Mandatory Social Insurance (Uredba o sadržini, obrascu i načinu podnošenja jedinstvene prijave na obavezno socijalno osiguranje, jedinstvenim metodološkim principima i jedinstvenom kodeksu šifara za unos podataka u jedinstvenu bazu centralnog registra obaveznog socijalnog osiguranja, "Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", Nos. 54/2010 and 124/2012), which is applicable as of 1 October 2010, the company, as an employer, is obligated to submit the following documents for registration of each employee either to the Republic Health Insurance Fund or Pension and Disability Insurance Fund:

Unique application form M (which can be downloaded free of charge from the official web-page of the Republic Health Insurance Fund www.rzzo.rs);
Employment contract;
ID card; and
Old medical care booklet (if applicable).

Work booklet is not being issued as of January 01, 2016. Therefore, employees who has been employed before this date have work booklet and can use the same as the evidence of their previous work experience. However, employees who are being employed after January 01, 2016 do not have work booklet. This documents is not necessary for registration of the employment contracts with relevant authority.

In addition, under the Law on Employment and Insurance in Case of Unemployment (Zakon o zapošljavanju i osiguranju za slučaj nezaposlenosti, "Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", Nos. 36/2009 and 88/2010), the employer is obligated to submit application on vacancy for working place to the National Employment Office.

6 Obtain electronic certificate

Agency : Chamber of Commerce

The electronic certificate is a prerequisite for the online submission of the information on company's beneficial owners with the Serbian Business Registers Agency.

The electronic certificate may be obtained from any of the following Serbian authorized certification bodies, either as a smart card or USB token:

Chamber of Commerce (http://www.pks.rs/Usluge.aspx?IDUsluge=4&t=2).
Post of Serbia (http://www.ca.posta.rs/postupak_izdavanja.htm).
Halcom a.d. (http://www.halcom.rs/rs/proizvodi/kvalifikovani-sertifikat/narucivanje-pravna-lica/).

It is most common for founders to visit the Chamber of Commerce for obtaining the electronic certificate since it can be done within a few hours. The electronic certificate must be obtained personally.

If the statutory representative is a local citizen, his/her electronic certificate must contain the unique master citizen number (JMBG in Serbian), and if the statutory representative is a foreign citizen – a registration number for foreigners.

1 day RSD 3,000 (without VAT)

Register Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBO)

Agency : Serbian Business Registers Agency website

The Registry of Ultimate Beneficial Owners is operational since January 31, 2019. An obligation to register the ultimate beneficial owners applies to all legal entities, excluding public joint-stock companies, entrepreneurs, government-owned companies, political parties, trade unions, sports organizations and associations, churches and religious communities, legal entities in bankruptcy, legal entities in forced liquidation.

Less than one day

(online procedure)

no charge

The data on beneficial owners are registered online at the website of the Serbian Business Registers Agency (reid.apr.gov.rs) by a statutory representative holding the electronic certificate. Pursuant to the Serbian Law on Ultimate Beneficial Owners Central Registry, the statutory representative is required to provide the following data (depending on who is ultimate beneficial owner):

for domestic natural person – name and surname, unique master citizen number (JMBG in Serbian) and state of residence;
for foreigner – name and surname, passport number and state of issuance and/or registration number for foreigner and/or ID card number and state of issuance, and place and date of birth, state of residence and citizenship;
for refugees – name and surname, number of ID document, place and date of birth and state of temporary residence;
legal ground for being considered as beneficial owner.

The beneficial owners should be registered within 15 days from date of entity registration or any change of the beneficial owners. Company registration must be completed prior to registering the ultimate beneficial owners. The registration process is rather simple, and on average takes approximately 30 minutes. The registration is completely free of charge.

Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure.

Dealing with Construction Permits

This topic tracks the procedures, time and cost to build a warehouse—including obtaining necessary the licenses and permits, submitting all required notifications, requesting and receiving all necessary inspections and obtaining utility connections. In addition, the Dealing with Construction Permits indicator measures the building quality control index, evaluating the quality of building regulations, the strength of quality control and safety mechanisms, liability and insurance regimes, and professional certification requirements. The most recent round of data collection was completed in May 2019. See the methodology for more information

What the indicators measure

Case study assumptions

Procedures to legally build a warehouse (number)

Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining all necessary clearances, licenses, permits and certificates
Submitting all required notifications and receiving all necessary inspections
Obtaining utility connections for water and sewerage
Registering and selling the warehouse after its completion

Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)
Does not include time spent gathering information
Each procedure starts on a separate day—though procedures that can be fully completed online are an exception to this rule
Procedure is considered completed once final document is received
No prior contact with officials

Cost required to complete each procedure (% of income per capita)
Official costs only, no bribes

Building quality control index (0-15)
Quality of building regulations (0-2)
Quality control before construction (0-1)
Quality control during construction (0-3)
Quality control after construction (0-3)
Liability and insurance regimes (0-2)
Professional certifications (0-4)

To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the construction company, the warehouse project and the utility connections are used.

The construction company (BuildCo):

Is a limited liability company (or its legal equivalent) and operates in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city.
Is 100% domestically and privately owned; has five owners, none of whom is a legal entity. Has a licensed architect and a licensed engineer, both registered with the local association of architects or engineers. BuildCo is not assumed to have any other employees who are technical or licensed experts, such as geological or topographical experts.
Owns the land on which the warehouse will be built and will sell the warehouse upon its completion.

The warehouse:
Will be used for general storage activities, such as storage of books or stationery.
Will have two stories, both above ground, with a total constructed area of approximately 1,300.6 square meters (14,000 square feet). Each floor will be 3 meters (9 feet, 10 inches) high and will be located on a land plot of approximately 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) that is 100% owned by BuildCo, and the warehouse is valued at 50 times income per capita.
Will have complete architectural and technical plans prepared by a licensed architect. If preparation of the plans requires such steps as obtaining further documentation or getting prior approvals from external agencies, these are counted as procedures.
Will take 30 weeks to construct (excluding all delays due to administrative and regulatory requirements).

The water and sewerage connections:
Will be 150 meters (492 feet) from the existing water source and sewer tap. If there is no water delivery infrastructure in the economy, a borehole will be dug. If there is no sewerage infrastructure, a septic tank in the smallest size available will be installed or built.
Will have an average water use of 662 liters (175 gallons) a day and an average wastewater flow of 568 liters (150 gallons) a day. Will have a peak water use of 1,325 liters (350 gallons) a day and a peak wastewater flow of 1,136 liters (300 gallons) a day.
Will have a constant level of water demand and wastewater flow throughout the year; will be 1 inch in diameter for the water connection and 4 inches in diameter for the sewerage connection.

Dealing with Construction Permits – Serbia

Standardized Warehouse

Estimated value of warehouse

RSD 34,386,644.50

Indicator

Serbia

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Best Regulatory Performance

Procedures (number)

16.2

12.7

None in 2018/19

City Covered Belgrade

Cost (% of warehouse value)

1.4

4.0

1.5

None in 2018/19

Time (days) 99.5 170.1 152.3 None in 2018/19

Building quality control index (0-15) 14.0 12.1 11.6 15.0 (6 Economies)

Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia – Score

76.0

78.8

93.0

93.3

Procedures

Time

Cost

Building quality control index

Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

DB 2020 Dealing with Construction Permits Score

0 100

85.3: Serbia (Rank: 9)

75.9: Bulgaria (Rank: 43)

69.5: Greece (Rank: 86)

69.0: Regional Average (Europe & Central Asia) 67.0: Hungary (Rank: 108)

57.8: Croatia (Rank: 150)

Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of dealing with construction permits is determined by sorting their scores for dealing with construction permits. These scores are the simple average of the scores for each of the component indicators.

Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

Time (days) Cost (% of warehouse value)

0.35

Cost (% of warehouse value)

0.3

0.25

Time (days)

0.2

40 0.15

0.1

0.05

0 0

1 * 2 * 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

Procedures (number)

* This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure.

Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia and comparator economies – Measure of Quality

14.0

13.0

12.0

12.1

14.5

Index score

13.5

12.5

11.5

Serbia Bulgaria Croatia Greece Hungary Europe

& Central Asia

Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

Request and obtain location conditions from the Secretariat of Urban Planning and Construction of the City of Belgrade

Agency : Secretariat for Urban Planning and Construction of the City of Belgrade

BuildCo applies for the Location conditions through the ePermit system to the City of Belgrade Secretariat for Urban Planning and Construction. The concept design/plan and proof of payment of administrative fees must also be attached.

33 days

RSD 30,420

The Municipal One Stop Shop is required to obtain copies of the plan of the parcel and its installations from the Republic Geodetic Authority, check the size of the parcel on the web site of the Republic Geodetic Authority, check the zoning requirements for the parcel and obtain all system operators' (waterworks, sewerage, power company) technical conditions for the project.

After checking the zoning requirements, and based on the documentation obtained from the Republic Geodetic Authority and system operators' technical conditions, the permitting authority issues the Location Conditions as an eDocument and makes it publicly available at the City of Belgrade website.

No.

Procedures

Time to Complete

Associated Costs

2 Obtain results of geotechnical study / soil test

Agency : Licensed geodetic agency

BuildCo will request a soil test for the structural calculations for the foundation. Contractors ask for a soil test to ensure that the foundation of the building is solid. The engineer must understand the suitability of the soil for the proposed construction work. It allows to build a solid foundation and avoid structures to be damaged or collapsed or leaned. According to the "Rulebook on content, mode and procedure-making and of the technical documentation according to the class and purpose of the objects," the soil test is part of the technical documentation and is consistently done in practice.

21 days RSD 55,000

3 Obtain a topographical survey of the land

Agency : Private Geodetic agency

According to Art. 47 of the Rulebook on mandatory content of the project design, a topographical survey is needed for the development of the concept design – Idejni projekat – and must be done by a certified surveying agency (Art. 56 of the Rulebook).

This topographical survey can be done while obtaining the location conditions from the secretariat of Urban Planning and construction.

13 days RSD 108,129

4 Request and obtain technical design of the construction permit

Agency : Licensed Company

Request and obtain building permit

Agency : Secretariat for Urban Planning and Construction of the City of Belgrade

The new Rulebook on Electronic One Stop Shops, implemented in December 2015 made it mandatory to request a building permit online through the epermitting system. The following documents must be provided:

building permit plan (project design),
technical control of the building permit plan by a licenses engineer
proofs of payment of administrative fees for the eSystem
Payment for the City of Belgrade for filling and processing a request

11 days

RSD 5,500

The permitting authority checks the building permit plan with the zoning requirements and previously issued Location Conditions. There is are no issues, the building plan will request the

proof of ownership via the ePermits system

A duly licensed company other than the one that designed the main building plans must verify whether the main construction project is in accordance with the law and with the technical standards, and whether it has all necessary clearances described in the previous procedures. The main construction project must be certified and stamped to that effect.

6 days RSD 92,071

6 Obtain approval for commencement of works from the Secretariat for Urbanism and Construction Affairs and notify Ministry of Labor	2 days	RSD 1,100
Agency : Secretariat for Urbanism and Construction Affairs / Ministry of Labor
This procedure is completed through an electronic application system. The applicant submits: a)
the notification of the commencement of works to the Secretariat for Urbanism and Construction
Affairs and b) the notification for the commencement of works to the Ministry of Labor. The
approval from the Secretariat of Urbanism is received one day after submission
7 Notify about the completion of foundation works and request inspection Agency : Secretariat for Urban Planning and Construction of the City of Belgrade	0.5 days	RSD 800
According to Article 152 of the Law on Construction and Planning, BuildCo must notify the
Secretariat for Urbanism and Construction Affairs of the City of Belgrade (competent authority)
about the completion of foundation works.
8 Receive inspection of foundation works Agency : The Secretariat for Inspection of the City of Belgrade – Department for Construction and	1 day	no charge
Urban Planning Inspection
9 Request and obtain water and sewerage connection Agency : JP Vodovod-Kanalizacija d.o.o	18 days	RSD 111,929
10 Hire an external engineer to conduct the final inspection Agency : Certified Independent firm	1 day	RSD 40,000
Prior to the new law from 2015, this inspection was conducted by the Municipality. Now it is
conducted by an independent expert. After the inspection, the expert writes the recommendations
to the Municipality and based on those recommendations, the Municipality will issue the usage
permit.
11 Obtain usage permit and register the building with the Geodetic Authority Agency : Secretariat for Urban Planning and Construction of the City of Belgrade	27 days	RSD 36,100
BuildCo must submit a formal request along with the building and the usage permit to register the
building at the Republic Geodesy Institute. Article 125 of the Law on Planning and Construction
provides for a time limit of 7 days for this permit to be issued following the issuance of technical
examination. However, there is no time-limit for the Commission to perform the technical
examination. In practice, it may take up to 6 months for the Commission to convene and issue its
decision.

Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure.

Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia – Measure of Quality

Answer

Score

Building quality control index (0-15)

14.0

How accessible are building laws and regulations in your economy? (0-1)

Available online; Free 1.0

of charge.

Quality of building regulations index (0-2) 2.0

Which requirements for obtaining a building permit are clearly specified in the building regulations or on any accessible website, brochure or pamphlet? (0-1)

List of required documents; Fees to be paid; Required preapprovals.

1.0

Quality control before construction index (0-1)

1.0

Which third-party entities are required by law to verify that the building plans are in compliance with existing building regulations? (0-1)

Licensed architect; Licensed engineer; Private firm.

1.0

Quality control during construction index (0-3)

2.0

What types of inspections (if any) are required by law to be carried out during construction? (0-2) Inspections at various

Do legally mandated inspections occur in practice during construction? (0-1)

Mandatory inspections are always done in

practice.

1.0

phases.

1.0

Is there a final inspection required by law to verify that the building was built in accordance with the approved

plans and regulations? (0-2)

Yes, final inspection is done by government agency; Yes, external engineer submits report for final

inspection.

2.0

Quality control after construction index (0-3) 3.0

Liability and insurance regimes index (0-2)

2.0

Do legally mandated final inspections occur in practice? (0-1) Final inspection always occurs in practice.

1.0

Which parties (if any) are held liable by law for structural flaws or problems in the building once it is in use (Latent Defect Liability or Decennial Liability)? (0-1)

Architect or engineer; Professional in charge of the supervision; Construction company.

1.0

Which parties (if any) are required by law to obtain an insurance policy to cover possible structural flaws or

problems in the building once it is in use (Latent Defect Liability Insurance or Decennial Insurance)? (0-1)

Architect or engineer; 1.0 Professional in

charge of the supervision; Construction

company.

What are the qualification requirements for the professional responsible for verifying that the architectural plans

or drawings are in compliance with existing building regulations? (0-2)

Minimum number of 2.0

years of experience; University degree in architecture or engineering; Being a registered architect or engineer; Passing a certification exam.

Professional certifications index (0-4) 4.0

What are the qualification requirements for the professional who supervises the construction on the ground? (0-

Minimum number of years of experience; University degree in engineering, construction or construction management; Being a registered architect or engineer; Passing

a certification exam.

2.0

Getting Electricity

This topic measures the procedures, time and cost required for a business to obtain a permanent electricity connection for a newly constructed warehouse. Additionally, the reliability of supply and transparency of tariffs index measures reliability of supply, transparency of tariffs and the price of electricity. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in May 2019. See the methodology for more information.

What the indicators measure

Case study assumptions

Procedures to obtain an electricity connection (number)

Submitting all relevant documents and obtaining all necessary clearances and permits
Completing all required notifications and receiving all necessary inspections
Obtaining external installation works and possibly purchasing material for these works
Concluding any necessary supply contract and obtaining final supply

Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)
Is at least 1 calendar day
Each procedure starts on a separate day
Does not include time spent gathering information
Reflects the time spent in practice, with little follow-up and no prior contact with officials

Cost required to complete each procedure (% of income per capita)
Official costs only, no bribes
Value added tax excluded

The reliability of supply and transparency of tariffs index (0-8)
Duration and frequency of power outages (0–3)
Tools to monitor power outages (0–1)
Tools to restore power supply (0–1)
Regulatory monitoring of utilities’ performance (0–1)
Financial deterrents limiting outages (0–1)
Transparency and accessibility of tariffs (0–1)

To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the warehouse, the electricity connection and the monthly consumption are used.

The warehouse:
- Is owned by a local entrepreneur and is used for storage of goods.
- Is located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city.
- Is located in an area where similar warehouses are typically located and is in an area with no physical constraints. For example, the property is not near a railway.
- Is a new construction and is being connected to electricity for the first time.
- Has two stories with a total surface area of approximately 1,300.6 square meters (14,000 square feet). The plot of land on which it is built is 929 square meters (10,000 square feet).
  
  The electricity connection:
- Is a permanent one with a three-phase, four-wire Y connection with a subscribed capacity of 140- kilo-volt-ampere (kVA) with a power factor of 1, when 1 kVA = 1 kilowatt (kW).
- Has a length of 150 meters. The connection is to either the low- or medium-voltage distribution network and is either overhead or underground, whichever is more common in the area where the warehouse is located and requires works that involve the crossing of a 10-meter road (such as by excavation or overhead lines) but are all carried out on public land. There is no crossing of other owners’ private property because the warehouse has access to a road.
- Does not require work to install the internal wiring of the warehouse. This has already been completed up to and including the customer’s service panel or switchboard and the meter base.
  
  The monthly consumption:
- It is assumed that the warehouse operates 30 days a month from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (8 hours a day), with equipment utilized at 80% of capacity on average and that there are no electricity cuts (assumed for simplicity reasons) and the monthly energy consumption is 26,880 kilowatt-hours (kWh); hourly consumption is 112 kWh.
- If multiple electricity suppliers exist, the warehouse is served by the cheapest supplier.
- Tariffs effective in January of the current year are used for calculation of the price of electricity for the warehouse. Although January has 31 days, for calculation purposes only 30 days are used.
Price of electricity (cents per kilowatt-hour)*
Price based on monthly bill for commercial warehouse in case study

*Note: Doing Business measures the price of electricity, but it is not included in the ease of doing business score nor in the ranking on the ease of getting electricity.

Getting Electricity – Serbia

Name of utility

Distribution system operator "EPS Distribucija" d.o.o. Beograd Ogranak

Elektrodistribucija Beograd

Standardized Connection

City Covered Belgrade

Price of electricity (US cents per kWh) 10.7

Indicator

Serbia

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Best Regulatory Performance

Procedures (number)

5.1

4.4

3 (28 Economies)

Cost (% of income per capita)

182.4

271.9

61.0

0.0 (3 Economies)

Time (days) 125 99.6 74.8 18 (3 Economies)

Figure – Getting Electricity in Serbia – Score

Reliability of supply and transparency of tariff index (0-8) 6 6.2 7.4 8 (26 Economies)

66.7

97.7

75.0

Procedures

53.5

Time

Cost

Reliability of supply and transparency of tariff index

Figure – Getting Electricity in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

DB 2020 Getting Electricity Score

0 100

86.8: Croatia (Rank: 37)

84.7: Greece (Rank: 40)

75.6: Regional Average (Europe & Central Asia)

73.2: Serbia (Rank: 94)

63.3: Hungary (Rank: 125)

55.1: Bulgaria (Rank: 151)

Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of getting electricity is determined by sorting their scores for getting electricity. These scores are the simple average of the scores for all the component indicators except the price of electricity.

Figure – Getting Electricity in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

120

Time (days) Cost (% of income per capita)

200

100

Time (days)

150

Cost (% of income per capita)

100

0 0

1 2 * 3 4 5

Procedures (number)

* This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure.

Figure – Getting Electricity in Serbia and comparator economies – Measure of Quality

6.2

7.2

Index score

6.8

6.6

6.4

6.2

5.8

5.6

5.4

Serbia Bulgaria Croatia Greece Hungary Europe

& Central Asia

Details – Getting Electricity in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

No. Procedures Time to Complete Associated Costs

Submit application to One Stop Shop (OSS) for location conditions

Agency : One Stop Shop
1. Investor submits application for location conditions via online ePermits system to the One Stop Shop (OSS). The application has to be digitally signed. Documents to be attached are the urban plan or planned object that is approved by the city’s Secretary for Urban Planning (“Gradski sekretarijat za urbanizam”). This is the building permit before the warehouse is built. A prove of ownership/renting over the land under the future object has to be attached as well.
2. OSS sends request for conditions for project design and connection to the EPS Distribucija (EPSD)
3. EPSD prepares conditions for project design and connection, including the connection fee, and send the to the OSS
4. OSS provides EPSD's conditions for project design and connection to investor as a part of the location conditions
5. Investor pays for external works by EPSD (electronic payments are prevailing practice)
  
  28 calendar days RSD 1,254,418.7
Await completion of external works by EPSD

Agency : EPSD
1. EPSD prepares technical design for external works
2. EPSD obtains permit for external works
3. EPSD obtains permit for excavations
4. EPSD completes external works, performs technical control of the external works and issues certificate on readiness of the completed external works for connection
  
  The utility is obtaining all necessary approvals for the customer.
  
  89 calendar days RSD 0
Receive inspection of internal wiring

Agency : licensed electrical engineer

Proof of safety is necessary to be issued by the licensed electrical engineer.The customer submits a request for internal wiring inspection at the One Stop Shop. The Department for Technical Inspection will send an authorized licensed engineer to check the internal wiring and issue a proof of safety. Further, the proof of safety is submitted to the EPSD through OSS.
calendar days RSD 0

Sign contract with power supply company

Agency : Public or Private power supply company

In order to finish final connection to the electric network, investor needs to sign contract with some power supply company (public or private).

This procedure is not simultaneous with previous one (it cannot be started until the previous one is finished).
1. calendar day RSD 0
Receive meter installation and await final connection

Agency : One Stop Shop
1. Investor submits request for connection to the OSS through the ePermits system
2. OSS submits the connection request to the EPSD
3. EPSD performs control of the connection point
4. EPSD issues approval for connection on the grid
5. EPSD completes the connection
6. EPSD sends notification to the OSS on completed connection Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure.
  
  7 calendar days USD 0
  
  Details – Getting Electricity in Serbia – Measure of Quality
  
  Answer
  
  Reliability of supply and transparency of tariff index (0-8) 6
  
  System average interruption duration index (SAIDI) 3.9
  
  Total duration and frequency of outages per customer a year (0-3) 2
  
  What is the minimum outage time (in minutes) that the utility considers for the calculation of SAIDI/SAIFI 3.0
  
  System average interruption frequency index (SAIFI) 3.1
  
  Does the distribution utility use automated tools to monitor outages? Yes
  
  Mechanisms for monitoring outages (0-1) 1
  
  Does the distribution utility use automated tools to restore service? Yes
  
  Mechanisms for restoring service (0-1) 1
  
  Does a regulator—that is, an entity separate from the utility—monitor the utility’s performance on reliability of supply? Yes
  
  Regulatory monitoring (0-1) 1
  
  Does the utility either pay compensation to customers or face fines by the regulator (or both) if outages exceed a certain cap? No
  
  Financial deterrents aimed at limiting outages (0-1) 0
  
  Are effective tariffs available online? Yes
  
  Communication of tariffs and tariff changes (0-1) 1
  
  Link to the website, if available online www.eps-snabdevanje.rs,
  
  Are customers notified of a change in tariff ahead of the billing cycle? Yes
  
  www.epsdistribucija.rs, All data is available except the price of electricity because it is a market data
  
  Note:
  
  If the duration and frequency of outages is 100 or less, the economy is eligible to score on the Reliability of supply and transparency of tariff index. If the duration and frequency of outages is not available, or is over 100, the economy is not eligible to score on the index.
  
  If the minimum outage time considered for SAIDI/SAIFI is over 5 minutes, the economy is not eligible to score on the index.
  
  Registering Property
  
  This topic examines the steps, time and cost involved in registering property, assuming a standardized case of an entrepreneur who wants to purchase land and a building that is already registered and free of title dispute. In addition, the topic also measures the quality of the land administration system in each economy. The quality of land administration index has five dimensions: reliability of infrastructure, transparency of information, geographic coverage, land dispute resolution, and equal access to property rights. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in May 2019. See the methodology for more information.
  
  What the indicators measure
  
  Case study assumptions
  
  Procedures to legally transfer title on immovable property (number)
  - Preregistration procedures (for example, checking for liens, notarizing sales agreement, paying property transfer taxes)
  - Registration procedures in the economy's largest business city.
  - Postregistration procedures (for example, filling title with municipality)
    
    Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)
  - Does not include time spent gathering information
  - Each procedure starts on a separate day – though procedures that can be fully completed online are an exception to this rule
  - Procedure is considered completed once final document is received
  - No prior contact with officials
    
    Cost required to complete each procedure (% of property value)
  - Official costs only (such as administrative fees, duties and taxes).
  - Value Added Tax, Capital Gains Tax and illicit payments are excluded
    
    Quality of land administration index (0-30)
  - Reliability of infrastructure index (0-8)
  - Transparency of information index (0–6)
  - Geographic coverage index (0–8)
  - Land dispute resolution index (0–8)
  - Equal access to property rights index (-2–0)
  To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the parties to the transaction, the property and the procedures are used.
  
  The parties (buyer and seller):
  - Are limited liability companies (or the legal equivalent).
  - Are located in the periurban (that is, on the outskirts of the city but still within its official limits) area of the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city.
  - Are 100% domestically and privately owned.
  - Perform general commercial activities.
    
    The property (fully owned by the seller):
  - Has a value of 50 times income per capita, which equals the sale price.
  - Is fully owned by the seller.
  - Has no mortgages attached and has been under the same ownership for the past 10 years.
  - Is registered in the land registry or cadastre, or both, and is free of title disputes.
  - Is located in a periurban commercial zone (that is, on the outskirts of the city but still within its official limits), and no rezoning is required.
  - Consists of land and a building. The land area is 557.4 square meters (6,000 square feet). A two- story warehouse of 929 square meters (10,000 square feet) is located on the land. The warehouse is 10 years old, is in good condition, has no heating system and complies with all safety standards, building codes and legal requirements. The property, consisting of land and building, will be transferred in its entirety.
  - Will not be subject to renovations or additional construction following the purchase.
  - Has no trees, natural water sources, natural reserves or historical monuments of any kind.
  - Will not be used for special purposes, and no special permits, such as for residential use, industrial plants, waste storage or certain types of agricultural activities, are required.
  - Has no occupants, and no other party holds a legal interest in it.
  Registering Property – Serbia
  
  Indicator
  
  Serbia
  
  Europe & Central Asia
  
  OECD high income
  
  Best Regulatory Performance
  
  Procedures (number)
  
  6
  
  5.5
  
  4.7
  
  1 (5 Economies)
  
  Cost (% of property value)
  
  2.6
  
  2.7
  
  4.2
  
  0.0 (Saudi Arabia)
  
  Time (days) 33 20.8 23.6 1 (2 Economies)
  
  Figure – Registering Property in Serbia – Score
  
  Quality of the land administration index (0-30) 18.5 20.4 23.2 None in 2018/19
  
  58.3
  
  84.7
  
  82.4
  
  61.7
  
  Procedures
  
  Time
  
  Cost
  
  Quality of the land administration index
  
  Figure – Registering Property in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score
  
  DB 2020 Registering Property Score
  
  0 100
  
  80.1: Hungary (Rank: 29)
  
  77.4: Croatia (Rank: 38)
  
  75.8: Regional Average (Europe & Central Asia)
  
  71.8: Serbia (Rank: 58)
  
  69.8: Bulgaria (Rank: 66)
  
  46.9: Greece (Rank: 156)
  
  Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of registering property is determined by sorting their scores for registering property. These scores are the simple average of the scores for each of the component indicators.
  
  Figure – Registering Property in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost
  
  Time (days) Cost (% of property value)
  
  30
  
  25
  
  Time (days)
  
  20
  
  3
  
  Cost (% of property value)
  
  2.5
  
  2
  
  1.5
  
  15
  
  10 1
  
  5 0.5
  
  0 0
  
  1 2 3 4 * 5 6
  
  Procedures (number)
  
  * This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure.
  
  Note: Online procedures account for 0.5 days in the total time calculation. For economies that have a different procedure list for men and women, the graph shows the time for women. For more information on methodology, see the Doing Business website (http://doingbusiness.org/en/methodology). For details on the procedures reflected here, see the summary below.
  
  Figure – Registering Property in Serbia and comparator economies – Measure of Quality
  
  26.0
  
  23.5
  
  18.5
  
  19.5
  
  20.4
  
  4.5
  
  30
  
  Index score
  
  25
  
  20
  
  15
  
  10
  
  5
  
  0
  
  Serbia Bulgaria Croatia Greece Hungary Europe
  
  1
  
  Obtain the extract from the Commercial Registers Agency
  
  Agency : Public Notary (Commercial Registers Agency)
  
  The status of legal representatives authorized to sign on behalf of the parties is verified by the Public Notary by obtaining the information online.
  
  Less than one day,
  
  online
  
  No cost when obtained
  
  online by public notary
  
  Notarial Rules of Procedure adopted on 10 June 2017 (Javnobeležnički poslovnik "Official Gazette of RS" no. 62/2016 and 66/2017, allows the status of a legal representative to be determined either by insight into public records (register of the Serbian Business Registers Agency (SBRA), birth registers, real estate cadastre, etc.) or by examining submitted public documents that offer proof of existence of a relationship with a participant, from which the authority to represent the
  
  company is derived.
  
  No.
  
  Procedures
  
  Time to Complete
  
  Associated Costs
  
  & Central Asia
  
  Details – Registering Property in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost
  1. Prepare the sale contract and solemnize it
    
    Agency : Notary
    
    The public notary, on behalf of the parties, prepares the sale contract and solemnizes it. Please note that all the fees taken into consideration do not include value added tax (20%) which is paid besides the amount of the respective notary fees.
    
    1 day RSD 44,700; (Notary Public Tariff ("Official Gazzete of RS" Nos. 91/2014, 103/2014,
    
    12/2016, 17/2017, 67/2017
    
    and 14/2019):
    
    Real estate price range Notary Prize in Points 1,00 – 600.000,00 RSD 60
    
    points
    
    600.001,00 – 2.500.000,00
    
    RSD 100 points
    
    2.500.001,00 –
    
    5.000.000,00 RSD 140
    
    points 5.000.001,00 –
    
    7.000.000,00 RSD 200
    
    points 7.000.001,00 –
    
    10.000.000,00 RSD 240
    
    points 10.000.001,00 –
    
    14.000.000,00 RSD 280
    
    points
    
    *For the value of a legal transaction over 14,000,000 dinars, for
    
    each started 1,000,000 dinars, the award is increased by 10 points, but the total prize cannot exceed 4,000 points.
    
    *Each point amounts to 150,00 RSD without VAT included.
    
    *When the notary public gives a non-official document the legal power of the public document (solemnization), is awarded in the amount of 60% of the prize for Tariff 1
    
    *Amount of the prize is increased by 4 points for the amount of compensation of material expenses of the Notary Public Tariff)
  2. Submit the request for registration to the Republic Geodesy Institute
  Agency : Public Notary (Republic Geodetic Authority (RGA))
  
  4
  
  Submit the application to Tax Authorities for the approval of the transaction value and for the authorization of the transfer tax payment
  
  Agency : Tax Administration
  
  The parties themselves (not through a notary) submit tax returns to the tax authorities. After the decision is made, the tax authorities send it by post to the parties.
  
  30 days
  
  no charge
  
  Tax authority is obliged to determine the tax base in the amount of market value within 60 days from receipt of the tax declaration. (Article 27 of Property tax law "RS Officail Gazette" No.
  
  26/2001 …95/2018 and 99/2018).
  
  According to the amendments to the VAT Law it is now possible for the transferor and the transferee which are registered VAT payers to have the transfer of immovable property taxed under VAT instead of Tax on transfer of absolute rights. As such the transfer shall be subjected to the procedure applicable for reporting and payment of VAT.
  
  On behalf of the parties, the request for registration is submitted online by the Public Notary to the Republic Geodesy Institute, along with all the documents needed to register the change in ownership. This has been the standard practice since the adoption of Law on Registration Procedure with the Cadaster of Real Estate and Utilities "Official Gazette of RS", number 41 of 31 May 2018.
  
  Less than one day, online
  
  RSD 5,000; (Registration fee is 5000 RSD)
  
  5
  
  The Cadastre issues the decision on the property title
  
  Agency : Real Estate Cadastre (REC)
  
  When public notary submits the registration, the Cadaster is obligated to issue a decision within 5 working days. In practice this takes at least 21 calendar days.
  
  21 days
  
  RSD 660
  
  When parties themselves submit the registrations, the Cadaster is obliged to issue a decision within 15 working days. In practice this takes 30 calendar days or more.
  
  In practice, it is more common for companies to use the public notary to submit the registration.
Pay the transfer tax

Agency : Commercial Bank or Treasury department

The tax is paid at a commercial bank into the account of the local Tax authority. This can be done in person or via e-banking.

1 day RSD 859,666.11; (2.5% of

the property value estimated by the Tax Authority)

Takes place simultaneously with previous procedure.

Details – Registering Property in Serbia – Measure of Quality
	Answer	Score
Quality of the land administration index (0-30)		18.5
Reliability of infrastructure index (0-8)		5.0
Type of land registration system in the economy:	Title Registration System
What is the institution in charge of immovable property registration?	Republic Geodetic Authority – Service for Cadastre of Immovable Property
In what format are past and newly issued land records kept at the immovable property registry of the largest business city of the economy —in a paper format or in a computerized format (scanned or fully digital)?	Computer/Scanned	1.0
Is there a comprehensive and functional electronic database for checking for encumbrances (liens, mortgages, restrictions and the like)?	Yes	1.0
Institution in charge of the plans showing legal boundaries in the largest business city:	Republic Geodetic Authority – Service for Cadastre of Immovable Property
In what format are past and newly issued cadastral plans kept at the mapping agency of the largest business city of the economy—in a paper format or in a computerized format (scanned or fully digital)?	Computer/Scanned	1.0
Is there an electronic database for recording boundaries, checking plans and providing cadastral information (geographic information system)?	Yes	1.0
Is the information recorded by the immovable property registration agency and the cadastral or mapping agency kept in a single database, in different but linked databases or in separate databases?	Separate databases	0.0
Do the immovable property registration agency and cadastral or mapping agency use the same identification number for properties?	Yes	1.0
Transparency of information index (0–6)		4.5
Who is able to obtain information on land ownership at the agency in charge of immovable property registration in the largest business city?	Freely accessible by anyone	1.0
Is the list of documents that are required to complete any type of property transaction made publicly available– and if so, how?	Yes, online	0.5
Link for online access:	http://www.rgz.gov.rs/ usluge/usluge- katastra- nepokretnosti/upis- imaoca-prava-na- nepokretnost-za- parcelu-objekat-i- poseban-deo-zgrade- stan-poslovni-prostor- i-gara%C5%BEa
Is the applicable fee schedule for any type of property transaction at the agency in charge of immovable property registration in the largest business city made publicly available–and if so, how?	Yes, online	0.5
Link for online access:	http://www.rgz.gov.rs/ usluge/izvod-iz- zakona-o- republi%C4%8Dkim- administrativnim- taksama
Does the agency in charge of immovable property registration agency formally commit to deliver a legally binding document that proves property ownership within a specific timeframe –and if so, how does it communicate the service standard?	Yes, online	0.5
Link for online access:	https://www.paragraf.r s/propisi_download/z akon-o-postupku- upisa-u-katastar- nepokretnosti-i- vodova.pdf

Is there a speciﬁc and independent mechanism for filing complaints about a problem that occurred at the agency in charge of immovable property registration?	No	0.0
Contact information:
Are there publicly available official statistics tracking the number of transactions at the immovable property registration agency?	Yes	0.5
Number of property transfers in the largest business city in 2018:	26925.0
Who is able to consult maps of land plots in the largest business city?	Anyone who pays the official fee	0.5
Is the applicable fee schedule for accessing maps of land plots made publicly available—and if so, how?	Yes, online	0.5
Link for online access:	http://www.rgz.gov.rs/ usluge/usluge- katastra- nepokretnosti/
Does the cadastral/mapping agency formally specifies the timeframe to deliver an updated cadastral plan—and if so, how does it communicate the service standard?	Yes, online	0.5
Link for online access:
Is there a speciﬁc and independent mechanism for filing complaints about a problem that occurred at the cadastral or mapping agency?	No	0.0
Contact information:
Geographic coverage index (0–8)		4.0
Are all privately held land plots in the largest business city formally registered at the immovable property registry?	Yes	2.0
Are all privately held land plots in the economy formally registered at the immovable property registry?	No	0.0
Are all privately held land plots in the largest business city mapped?	Yes	2.0
Are all privately held land plots in the economy mapped?	No	0.0
Land dispute resolution index (0–8)		5.0
Does the law require that all property sale transactions be registered at the immovable property registry to make them opposable to third parties?	Yes	1.5
Legal basis:	Law on state survey and cadaster ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia" Nos. 72/2009, 18/2010, 65/2013, 15/2015, 96/2015, 47/2017, 113/2017, 27/2018 and 41/2018 )
Is the system of immovable property registration subject to a state or private guarantee?	Yes	0.5
Type of guarantee:	State guarantee
Legal basis:	Law on state survey and cadaster ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia" Nos. 72/2009, 18/2010, 65/2013, 15/2015, 96/2015, 47/2017, 113/2017, 27/2018 and 41/2018)
Is there a is a speciﬁc, out-of-court compensation mechanism to cover for losses incurred by parties who engaged in good faith in a property transaction based on erroneous information certified by the immovable property registry?	No	0.0
Legal basis:

Does the legal system require a control of legality of the documents necessary for a property transaction (e.g., checking the compliance of contracts with requirements of the law)?	Yes	0.5
If yes, who is responsible for checking the legality of the documents?	Registrar; Notary; Lawyer;
Does the legal system require verification of the identity of the parties to a property transaction?	Yes	0.5
If yes, who is responsible for verifying the identity of the parties?	Registrar; Notary;
Is there a national database to verify the accuracy of government issued identity documents?	No	0.0
What is the Court of first instance in charge of a case involving a standard land dispute between two local businesses over tenure rights for a property worth 50 times gross national income (GNI) per capita and located in the largest business city?	The Commercial Court in Belgrade
How long does it take on average to obtain a decision from the first-instance court for such a case (without appeal)?	Between 1 and 2 years	2.0
Are there publicly available statistics on the number of land disputes at the economy level in the ﬁrst instance court?	No	0.0
Number of land disputes in the economy in 2018:
Equal access to property rights index (-2–0)		0.0
Do unmarried men and unmarried women have equal ownership rights to property?	Yes
Do married men and married women have equal ownership rights to property?	Yes	0.0

Getting Credit

This topic explores two sets of issues—the strength of credit reporting systems and the effectiveness of collateral and bankruptcy laws in facilitating lending. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in May 2019. See the methodology for more information.

What the indicators measure

Case study assumptions

Strength of legal rights index (0–12)

Rights of borrowers and lenders through collateral laws (0-10)
Protection of secured creditors’ rights through bankruptcy laws (0-2)

Depth of credit information index (0–8)
Scope and accessibility of credit information distributed by credit bureaus and credit registries (0-8)

Credit bureau coverage (% of adults)
Number of individuals and firms listed in largest credit bureau as a percentage of adult population

Credit registry coverage (% of adults)
Number of individuals and firms listed in credit registry as a percentage of adult population

Doing Business assesses the sharing of credit information and the legal rights of borrowers and lenders with respect to secured transactions through 2 sets of indicators. The depth of credit information index measures rules and practices affecting the coverage, scope and accessibility of credit information available through a credit registry or a credit bureau. The strength of legal rights index measures the degree to which collateral and bankruptcy laws protect the rights of borrowers and lenders and thus facilitate lending. For each economy it is first determined whether a unitary secured transactions system exists. Then two case scenarios, case A and case B, are used to determine how a nonpossessory security interest is created, publicized and enforced according to the law. Special emphasis is given to how the collateral registry operates (if registration of security interests is possible). The case scenarios involve a secured borrower, company ABC, and a secured lender, BizBank.

In some economies the legal framework for secured transactions will allow only case A or case B (not both) to apply. Both cases examine the same set of legal provisions relating to the use of movable collateral.

Several assumptions about the secured borrower (ABC) and lender (BizBank) are used:

ABC is a domestic limited liability company (or its legal equivalent).
ABC has up to 50 employees.
ABC has its headquarters and only base of operations in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city.
Both ABC and BizBank are 100% domestically owned.

The case scenarios also involve assumptions. In case A, as collateral for the loan, ABC grants BizBank a nonpossessory security interest in one category of movable assets, for example, its machinery or its inventory. ABC wants to keep both possession and ownership of the collateral. In economies where the law does not allow nonpossessory security interests in movable property, ABC and BizBank use a fiduciary transfer-of-title arrangement (or a similar substitute for nonpossessory security interests).

In case B, ABC grants BizBank a business charge, enterprise charge, floating charge or any charge that gives BizBank a security interest over ABC’s combined movable assets (or as much of ABC’s movable assets as possible). ABC keeps ownership and possession of the assets.

Getting Credit – Serbia

Indicator

Serbia

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Best Regulatory Performance

Strength of legal rights index (0-12)

7.8

6.1

12 (5 Economies)

Credit registry coverage (% of adults)

0.0

24.0

24.4

100.0 (2 Economies)

Depth of credit information index (0-8) 7 6.7 6.8 8 (53 Economies)

Figure – Getting Credit in Serbia – Score

65.0

Credit bureau coverage (% of adults) 100.0 41.7 66.7 100.0 (14 Economies)

Score – Getting Credit

Figure – Getting Credit in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

DB 2020 Getting Credit Score

0 100

75.0: Hungary (Rank: 37)

72.2: Regional Average (Europe & Central Asia) 65.0: Bulgaria (Rank: 67)

65.0: Serbia (Rank: 67)

50.0: Croatia (Rank: 104)

45.0: Greece (Rank: 119)

Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of getting credit is determined by sorting their scores for getting credit. These scores are the sum of the scores for the strength of legal rights index and the depth of credit information index.

Figure – Legal Rights in Serbia and comparator economies

7.8

Index Score

Serbia Bulgaria Croatia Greece Hungary Europe

& Central Asia

Details – Legal Rights in Serbia

Strength of legal rights index (0-12) 6

Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in a single category of movable assets, without requiring a specific description

of collateral?

Yes

Does an integrated or unified legal framework for secured transactions that extends to the creation, publicity and enforcement of functional equivalents No to security interests in movable assets exist in the economy?

May a security right extend to future or after-acquired assets, and does it extend automatically to the products, proceeds and replacements of the

original assets?

Yes

Does the law allow businesses to grant a non possessory security right in substantially all of its assets, without requiring a specific description of No collateral?

Is a collateral registry in operation for both incorporated and non-incorporated entities, that is unified geographically and by asset type, with an

electronic database indexed by debtor's name?

Yes

Is a general description of debts and obligations permitted in collateral agreements; can all types of debts and obligations be secured between parties; No and can the collateral agreement include a maximum amount for which the assets are encumbered?

Does a notice-based collateral registry exist in which all functional equivalents can be registered? No

Does a modern collateral registry exist in which registrations, amendments, cancellations and searches can be performed online by any interested third No party?

Are secured creditors paid first (i.e. before tax claims and employee claims) when a debtor defaults outside an insolvency procedure? Yes

Are secured creditors paid first (i.e. before tax claims and employee claims) when a business is liquidated? Yes

Does the law allow parties to agree on out of court enforcement at the time a security interest is created? Does the law allow the secured creditor to sell Yes the collateral through public auction or private tender, as well as, for the secured creditor to keep the asset in satisfaction of the debt?

Are secured creditors subject to an automatic stay on enforcement when a debtor enters a court-supervised reorganization procedure? Does the law No protect secured creditors’ rights by providing clear grounds for relief from the stay and sets a time limit for it?

Figure – Credit Information in Serbia and comparator economies

6.7

Index Score

Serbia Bulgaria Croatia Greece Hungary Europe

& Central Asia

Details – Credit Information in Serbia

Depth of credit information index (0-8)

Credit bureau

Credit registry

Score

Are data on both firms and individuals distributed?

Yes

Are data from retailers or utility companies – in addition to data from banks and

financial institutions – distributed?

Are both positive and negative credit data distributed? Yes No 1

Are data on loan amounts below 1% of income per capita distributed?

Yes

Are at least 2 years of historical data distributed? (Credit bureaus and registries that distribute more than 10 years of negative data or erase data on defaults as soon as they are repaid obtain a score of 0 for this component.)

Yes No 1

By law, do borrowers have the right to access their data in the credit bureau or credit registry?

Yes No 1

Can banks and financial institutions access borrowers’ credit information online (for example, through an online platform, a system-to-system connection or both)?

Yes No 1

Are bureau or registry credit scores offered as a value-added service to help banks and financial institutions assess the creditworthiness of borrowers?

Yes No 1

Note: An economy receives a score of 1 if there is a "yes" to either bureau or registry. If the credit bureau or registry is not operational or covers less than 5% of the adult population, the total score on the depth of credit information index is 0.

Coverage	Credit bureau	Credit registry
Number of individuals	6,749,925	0
Number of firms	1,049,860	0
Total	7,799,785	0
Percentage of adult population	100.0	0.0

Protecting Minority Investors

This topic measures the strength of minority shareholder protections against misuse of corporate assets by directors for their personal gain as well as shareholder rights, governance safeguards and corporate transparency requirements that reduce the risk of abuse. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in May 2019. See the methodology for more information.

What the indicators measure

Case study assumptions

Extent of disclosure index (0–10): Disclosure, review, and approval requirements for related-party transactions
Extent of director liability index (0–10): Ability of minority shareholders to sue and hold interested directors liable for prejudicial related-party transactions; Available legal

remedies (damages, disgorgement of profits, disqualification from managerial position(s) for one year or more, rescission of the transaction)
Ease of shareholder suits index (0–10): Access to internal corporate documents; Evidence obtainable during trial and allocation of legal expenses
Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0-30): Sum of the extent of disclosure, extent of director liability and ease of shareholder suits indices
Extent of shareholder rights index (0-6): Shareholders’ rights and role in major corporate decisions
Extent of ownership and control index (0-7): Governance safeguards protecting shareholders from undue board control and entrenchment
Extent of corporate transparency index (0-7): Corporate transparency on ownership stakes, compensation, audits and financial prospects
Extent of shareholder governance index (0–20): Sum of the extent of shareholders rights, extent of ownership and control and extent of corporate transparency indices
Strength of minority investor protection index (0–50): Sum of the extent of conflict of interest regulation and extent of shareholder governance indices

To make the data comparable across economies, a case study uses several assumptions about the business and the transaction.

The business (Buyer):

Is a publicly traded corporation listed on the economy’s most important stock exchange.
Has a board of directors and a chief executive officer (CEO) who may legally act on behalf of Buyer where permitted, even if this is not speciﬁcally required by law.
Has a supervisory board in economies with a two-tier board system on which Mr. James appointed 60% of the shareholder-elected members.
Has not adopted bylaws or articles of association that go beyond the minimum requirements. Does not follow codes, principles, recommendations or guidelines that are not mandatory.
Is a manufacturing company with its own distribution network.

The transaction involves the following details:
Mr. James owns 60% of Buyer, sits on Buyer’s board of directors and elected two directors to Buyer’s ﬁve-member board.
Mr. James also owns 90% of Seller, a company that operates a chain of retail hardware stores. Seller recently closed a large number of its stores.
Mr. James proposes that Buyer purchase Seller’s unused ﬂeet of trucks to expand Buyer’s distribution of its food products, a proposal to which Buyer agrees. The price is equal to 10% of Buyer’s assets and is higher than the market value.
The proposed transaction is part of the company’s principal activity and is not outside the authority of the company.
Buyer enters into the transaction. All required approvals are obtained, and all required disclosures made—that is, the transaction was not entered into fraudulently.
The transaction causes damages to Buyer. Shareholders sue Mr. James and the executives and directors that approved the transaction.

Protecting Minority Investors – Serbia

Stock exchange information
Stock exchange		Belgrade Stock Exchange
Stock exchange URL		http://www.belex.rs
Listed firms with equity securities		66
City Covered		Belgrade
Indicator	Serbia	Europe & Central Asia	OECD high income	Best Regulatory Performance
Extent of disclosure index (0-10)	6.0	7.5	6.5	10 (13 Economies)
Extent of director liability index (0-10)	6.0	5.0	5.3	10 (3 Economies)
Ease of shareholder suits index (0-10)	5.0	6.8	7.3	10 (Djibouti)
Extent of shareholder rights index (0-6)	5.0	3.4	4.7	6 (19 Economies)
Extent of ownership and control index (0-7)	7.0	3.7	4.5	7 (9 Economies)
Extent of corporate transparency index (0-7)	6.0	4.1	5.7	7 (13 Economies)

Figure – Protecting Minority in Serbia – Score

70.0

Score – Protecting Minority Investors

Figure – Protecting Minority Investors in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

DB 2020 Protecting Minority Investors Score

0 100

74.0: Bulgaria (Rank: 25)

70.0: Greece (Rank: 37)

70.0: Croatia (Rank: 37)

70.0: Serbia (Rank: 37)

61.0: Regional Average (Europe & Central Asia) 54.0: Hungary (Rank: 97)

Note: The ranking of economies on the strength of minority investor protections is determined by sorting their scores for protecting minority investors. These scores are the simple average of the scores for the extent of conﬂict of interest regulation index and the extent of shareholder governance index.

Figure – Protecting Minority Investors in Serbia and comparator economies – Measure of Quality

Serbia

Bulgaria

Croatia

Greece

Hungary

OECD high income

Europe & Central Asia

5.6

6.6

4.3

4.5

7.4

4.1

4.8

7.2

3.6

3.4

6.8

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Sub-Indicator Score

Extent of corporate transparency index (0-7) Extent of director liability index (0-10) Extent of disclosure index (0-10) Extent of ownership and control index (0-7) Extent of shareholder rights index (0-6) Ease of shareholder suits index (0-10)

Details – Protecting Minority Investors in Serbia – Measure of Quality
	Answer	Score
Extent of conflict of interest regulation index (0-30)
Extent of disclosure index (0-10)		6.0
Whose decision is sufficient to approve the Buyer-Seller transaction? (0-3)	Board of directors excluding interested members	2.0
Must an external body review the terms of the transaction before it takes place? (0-1)	Yes	1.0
Must Mr. James disclose his conflict of interest to the board of directors? (0-2)	Existence of a conflict without any specifics	1.0
Must Buyer disclose the transaction in periodic filings (e.g. annual reports)? (0-2)	Disclosure on the transaction only	1.0
Must Buyer immediately disclose the transaction to the public? (0-2)	Disclosure on the transaction only	1.0
Extent of director liability index (0-10)		6.0
Can shareholders representing 10% of Buyer's share capital sue for the damage the transaction caused to Buyer? (0-1)	Yes	1.0
Can shareholders hold Mr. James liable for the damage the transaction caused to Buyer? (0-2)	Liable if negligent	1.0
Can shareholders hold the other directors liable for the damage the transaction caused to Buyer? (0-2)	Liable if negligent	1.0
Must Mr. James pay damages for the harm caused to Buyer upon a successful claim by shareholders? (0-1)	Yes	1.0
Must Mr. James repay profits made from the transaction upon a successful claim by shareholders? (0-1)	Yes	1.0
Is Mr. James disqualified upon a successful claim by shareholders? (0-1)	No	0.0
Can a court void the transaction upon a successful claim by shareholders? (0-2)	Voidable if negligently concluded	1.0
Ease of shareholder suits index (0-10)		5.0
Before suing, can shareholders representing 10% of Buyer's share capital inspect the transaction documents? (0-1)	Yes	1.0
Can the plaintiff obtain any documents from the defendant and witnesses at trial? (0-3)	Documents that the defendant relied on	1.0
Can the plaintiff request categories of documents from the defendant without identifying specific ones? (0-1)	No	0.0
Can the plaintiff directly question the defendant and witnesses at trial? (0-2)	Yes	2.0
Is the level of proof required for civil suits lower than that of criminal cases? (0-1)	No	0.0
Can shareholder plaintiffs recover their legal expenses from the company? (0-2)	Yes if successful	1.0
Extent of shareholder governance index (0-20)
Extent of shareholder rights index (0-6)		5.0
Does the sale of 51% of Buyer's assets require shareholder approval?	Yes	1.0
Can shareholders representing 10% of Buyer's share capital call for a meeting of shareholders?	Yes	1.0
Must Buyer obtain its shareholders’ approval every time it issues new shares?	No	0.0
Do shareholders automatically receive preemption rights every time Buyer issues new shares?	Yes	1.0
Do shareholders elect and dismiss the external auditor?	Yes	1.0
Are changes to the rights of a class of shares only possible if the holders of the affected shares approve?	Yes	1.0
Extent of ownership and control index (0-7)		7.0
Is it forbidden to appoint the same individual as CEO and chairperson of the board of directors?	Yes	1.0
Must the board of directors include independent and nonexecutive board members?	Yes	1.0

Can shareholders remove members of the board of directors without cause before the end of their term?	Yes	1.0
Must the board of directors include a separate audit committee exclusively comprising board members?	Yes	1.0
Must a potential acquirer make a tender offer to all shareholders upon acquiring 50% of Buyer?	Yes	1.0
Must Buyer pay declared dividends within a maximum period set by law?	Yes	1.0
Is a subsidiary prohibited from acquiring shares issued by its parent company?	Yes	1.0
Extent of corporate transparency index (0-7)		6.0
Must Buyer disclose direct and indirect beneficial ownership stakes representing 5%?	Yes	1.0
Must Buyer disclose information about board members’ primary employment and directorships in other companies?	Yes	1.0
Must Buyer disclose the compensation of individual managers?	No	0.0
Must a detailed notice of general meeting be sent 21 days before the meeting?	Yes	1.0
Can shareholders representing 5% of Buyer’s share capital put items on the general meeting agenda?	Yes	1.0
Must Buyer's annual financial statements be audited by an external auditor?	Yes	1.0
Must Buyer disclose its audit reports to the public?	Yes	1.0

Paying Taxes

This topic records the taxes and mandatory contributions that a medium-size company must pay or withhold in a given year, as well as the administrative burden of paying taxes and contributions and complying with postfiling procedures (VAT refund and tax audit). The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in May 2019 covering for the Paying Taxes indicator calendar year 2018 (January 1, 2018 – December 31, 2018). See the methodology for more information.

What the indicators measure

Case study assumptions

Tax payments for a manufacturing company in 2018 (number per year adjusted for electronic and joint filing and payment)

Total number of taxes and contributions paid or withheld, including consumption taxes (value added tax, sales tax or goods and service tax)
Method and frequency of filing and payment

Time required to comply with 3 major taxes (hours per year)
Collecting information, computing tax payable
Preparing separate tax accounting books, if required
Completing tax return, filing with agencies
Arranging payment or withholding

Total tax and contribution rate (% of commercial profits)
Profit or corporate income tax
Social contributions, labor taxes paid by employer
Property and property transfer taxes
Dividend, capital gains, financial transactions taxes
Waste collection, vehicle, road and other taxes

Postfiling Index
Time to comply with VAT refund (hours)
Time to obtain VAT refund (weeks)
Time to comply with a corporate income tax correction (hours)
Time to complete a corporate income tax correction (weeks)

Using a case scenario, Doing Business records taxes and mandatory contributions a medium size company must pay in a year, and measures the administrative burden of paying taxes, contributions and dealing with postfiling processes. Information is also compiled on frequency of filing and payments, time taken to comply with tax laws, time taken to comply with the requirements of postfiling processes and time waiting.

To make data comparable across economies, several assumptions are used:

TaxpayerCo is a medium-size business that started operations on January 1, 2017. It produces ceramic flowerpots and sells them at retail. All taxes and contributions recorded are paid in the second year of operation (calendar year 2018). Taxes and mandatory contributions are measured at all levels of government.

The VAT refund process:
In June 2018, TaxpayerCo. makes a large capital purchase: the value of the machine is 65 times income per capita of the economy. Sales are equally spread per month (1,050 times income per capita divided by 12) and cost of goods sold are equally expensed per month (875 times income per capita divided by 12). The machinery seller is registered for VAT and excess input VAT incurred in June will be fully recovered after four consecutive months if the VAT rate is the same for inputs, sales and the machine and the tax reporting period is every month. Input VAT will exceed Output VAT in June 2018.

The corporate income tax audit process:
An error in calculation of income tax liability (for example, use of incorrect tax depreciation rates, or incorrectly treating an expense as tax deductible) leads to an incorrect income tax return and a corporate income tax underpayment. TaxpayerCo. discovered the error and voluntarily notified the tax authority. The value of the underpaid income tax liability is 5% of the corporate income tax liability due. TaxpayerCo. submits corrected information after the deadline for submitting the annual tax return, but within the tax assessment period.

Paying Taxes – Serbia

Indicator

Serbia

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Best Regulatory Performance

Payments (number per year)

14.4

10.3

3 (2 Economies)

Total tax and contribution rate (% of profit)

36.6

31.7

39.9

26.1 (33 Economies)

Time (hours per year) 226 213.1 158.8 49 (3 Economies)

Figure – Paying Taxes in Serbia – Score

Postfiling index (0-100) 93.2 68.2 86.7 None in 2018/19

50.0

72.7

85.2

93.2

Payments

Time

Total tax and contribution rate

Postfiling index

Figure – Paying Taxes in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

DB 2020 Paying Taxes Score

100

81.8: Croatia (Rank: 49)

80.6: Hungary (Rank: 56)

77.9: Regional Average (Eur

77.1: Greece (Rank: 72)

75.3: Serbia (Rank: 85)

72.3: Bulgaria (Rank: 97)

0

ope & Central Asia)

Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of paying taxes is determined by sorting their scores for paying taxes. These scores are the simple average of the scores for each of the component indicators, with a threshold and a nonlinear transformation applied to one of the component indicators, the total tax and contribution rate. The threshold is defined as the total tax and contribution rate at the 15th percentile of the overall distribution for all years included in the analysis up to and including Doing Business 2015, which is 26.1%. All economies with a total tax and contribution rate below this threshold receive the same score as the economy at the threshold.

Figure – Paying Taxes in Serbia and comparator economies – Measure of Quality

93.2

87.5

71.2

76.7

66.7

68.2

100

Index score

Serbia

Bulgaria Croatia Greece Hungary Europe

& Central Asia

Details – Paying Taxes in Serbia
Tax or Payments mandatory (number) contribution	Notes on Payments	Time (hours)	Statutory tax rate	Tax base	Total tax and contribution rate (% of profit)	Notes on TTCR
Social security – 1.0 employer	online	103.0	17.9%	gross salaries	20.19
Corporate 1.0 income tax	online	37.5	15%	taxable profits	13.00
Property tax 4.0		0.0	0.4%	property value	1.83
Property transfer 1.0 tax			2.5%	sale price	1.52
Environmental 1.0 tax			RSD 306	ton of waste	0.03
Environment 12.0 protection and enhancement fee			RSD 2.64	square meter of qualifying real estate	0.01
Value added tax 1.0 (VAT)	online	85.0	20%	value added	0.00	not included
Other 12.0 municipality charges			variable	various	0.00	small amount
Employee paid – 0.0 Social security and personal income tax	jointly		19.9%	gross salaries	0.00	withheld
Totals 33		226			36.6

Details – Paying Taxes in Serbia – Tax by Type
Taxes by type	Answer
Profit tax (% of profit)	13.0
Labor tax and contributions (% of profit)	20.2
Other taxes (% of profit)	3.4

Details – Paying Taxes in Serbia – Measure of Quality
	Answer	Score
Postfiling index (0-100)		93.2
VAT refunds
Does VAT exist?	Yes
Does a VAT refund process exist per the case study?	Yes
Restrictions on VAT refund process	none
Percentage of cases exposed to a VAT audit (%)	75% – 100%
Is there a mandatory carry forward period?	No
Time to comply with VAT refund (hours)	4.0	92.0
Time to obtain VAT refund (weeks)	10.0	86.4
Corporate income tax audits
Does corporate income tax exist?	Yes
Percentage of cases exposed to a corporate income tax audit (%)	0% – 24%
Time to comply with a corporate income tax correction (hours)	4.5	94.5
Time to complete a corporate income tax correction (weeks)	No tax audit per case study scenario	100

Notes: Names of taxes have been standardized. For instance income tax, profit tax, tax on company's income are all named corporate income tax in this table. The hours for VAT include all the VAT and sales taxes applicable.

The hours for Social Security include all the hours for labor taxes and mandatory contributions in general.

The postfiling index is the average of the scores on time to comply with VAT refund, time to obtain a VAT refund, time to comply with a corporate income tax correction and time to complete a corporate income tax correction.

N/A = Not applicable.

Trading across Borders

Doing Business records the time and cost associated with the logistical process of exporting and importing goods. Doing Business measures the time and cost (excluding tariffs) associated with three sets of procedures—documentary compliance, border compliance and domestic transport—within the overall process of exporting or importing a shipment of goods. The most recent round of data collection for the project was completed in May 2019. See the methodology for more information.

What the indicators measure

Case study assumptions

Documentary compliance

Obtaining, preparing and submitting documents during transport, clearance, inspections and port or border handling in origin economy
Obtaining, preparing and submitting documents required by destination economy and any transit economies
Covers all documents required by law and in practice, including electronic submissions of information

Border compliance
Customs clearance and inspections
Inspections by other agencies (if applied to more than 20% of shipments)
Handling and inspections that take place at the economy’s port or border

Domestic transport
Loading or unloading of the shipment at the warehouse or port/border
Transport between warehouse and port/border
Traffic delays and road police checks while shipment is en route

To make the data comparable across economies, a few assumptions are made about the traded goods and the transactions:

Time: Time is measured in hours, and 1 day is 24 hours (for example, 22 days are recorded as 22×24=528 hours). If customs clearance takes 7.5 hours, the data are recorded as is. Alternatively, suppose documents are submitted to a customs agency at 8:00a.m., are processed overnight and can be picked up at 8:00a.m. the next day. The time for customs clearance would be recorded as 24 hours because the actual procedure took 24 hours.

Cost: Insurance cost and informal payments for which no receipt is issued are excluded from the costs recorded. Costs are reported in U.S. dollars. Contributors are asked to convert local currency into U.S. dollars based on the exchange rate prevailing on the day they answer the questionnaire. Contributors are private sector experts in international trade logistics and are informed about exchange rates.

Assumptions of the case study:

For all 190 economies covered by Doing Business, it is assumed a shipment is in a warehouse in the largest business city of the exporting economy and travels to a warehouse in the largest business city of the importing economy.
It is assumed each economy imports 15 metric tons of containerized auto parts (HS 8708) from its natural import partner—the economy from which it imports the largest value (price times quantity) of auto parts. It is assumed each economy exports the product of its comparative advantage (defined by the largest export value) to its natural export partner—the economy that is the largest purchaser of this product. Shipment value is assumed to be $50,000.
The mode of transport is the one most widely used for the chosen export or import product and the trading partner, as is the seaport or land border crossing.
All electronic information submissions requested by any government agency in connection with the shipment are considered to be documents obtained, prepared and submitted during the export or import process.
A port or border is a place (seaport or land border crossing) where merchandise can enter or leave an economy.
Relevant government agencies include customs, port authorities, road police, border guards, standardization agencies, ministries or departments of agriculture or industry, national security agencies and any other government authorities.

Trading across Borders – Serbia

Indicator	Serbia	Europe & Central Asia	OECD high income	Best Regulatory Performance
Time to export: Border compliance (hours)	4	16.1	12.7	1 (19 Economies)
Cost to export: Border compliance (USD)	47	150.0	136.8	0 (19 Economies)
Time to export: Documentary compliance (hours)	2	25.1	2.3	1 (26 Economies)
Cost to export: Documentary compliance (USD)	35	87.6	33.4	0 (20 Economies)
Time to import: Border compliance (hours)	5	20.4	8.5	1 (25 Economies)
Cost to import: Border compliance (USD)	52	158.8	98.1	0 (28 Economies)
Time to import: Documentary compliance (hours)	3	23.4	3.4	1 (30 Economies)
Cost to import: Documentary compliance (USD)	35	85.9	23.5	0 (30 Economies)

Figure – Trading across Borders in Serbia – Score

Time	Cost	Time	Cost	Time	Cost	Time	Cost
to	to	to	to	to	to	to	to
export:	export:	export:	export:	import:	import:	import:	import:
Border	Border	Documentary	Documentary	Border	Border	Documentary	Documentary
compliance	compliance	compliance	compliance	compliance	compliance	compliance	compliance

Figure – Trading across Borders in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

98.0

95.5

99.2

91.3

98.7

95.7

99.2

95.0

DB 2020 Trading Across Borders Score

0 100

97.4: Bulgaria (Rank: 21)

96.6: Serbia (Rank: 23)

93.7: Greece (Rank: 34)

87.3: Regional Average (Europe & Central Asia) 100: Croatia (Rank: 1)

100: Hungary (Rank: 1)

Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of trading across borders is determined by sorting their scores for trading across borders. These scores are the simple average of the scores for the time and cost for documentary compliance and border compliance to export and import.

Figure – Trading across Borders in Serbia – Time and Cost

Time (hours)

Export

–

Export

–

Time (hours) Cost (USD)

Import

–

Cost (USD)

Import

–

Border Compliance

Documentary Compliance

Border Compliance

Documentary Compliance

Details – Trading across Borders in Serbia

Characteristics Export Import

Product HS 85 : Electrical machinery and equipment and parts thereof; sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, and parts and accessories of such articles

HS 8708: Parts and accessories of motor vehicles

Border

Rozske border crossing

Batrovci border crossing

Trade partner Germany Italy

Domestic transport time (hours)

Distance (km) 200 200

Domestic transport cost (USD) 267 214

Details – Trading across Borders in Serbia – Components of Border Compliance

	Time to Complete (hours)	Associated Costs (USD)
Export: Clearance and inspections required by customs authorities	3.5	47.3
Export: Clearance and inspections required by agencies other than customs	0.0	0.0
Export: Port or border handling	1.8	0.0
Import: Clearance and inspections required by customs authorities	4.0	52.0
Import: Clearance and inspections required by agencies other than customs	0.0	0.0
Import: Port or border handling	2.6	0.0

Details – Trading across Borders in Serbia – Trade Documents

Export

Import

Commercial invoice (5 copies) Commercial invoice

CMR waybill Packing list

EUR 1 – Certificate of origin CMR waybill

Customs Transit Declaration Parking receipts

Packing List Customs import declaration

Parking Receipts Customs transit document

Customs Export Declaration EUR 1 (Certificate of origin)

Enforcing Contracts

The enforcing contracts indicator measures the time and cost for resolving a commercial dispute through a local first-instance court, and the quality of judicial processes index, evaluating whether each economy has adopted a series of good practices that promote quality and efficiency in the court system. The most recent round of data collection was completed in May 2019. See the methodology for more information.

What the indicators measure

Case study assumptions

Time required to enforce a contract through the courts (calendar days)

Time to file and serve the case
Time for trial and to obtain the judgment
Time to enforce the judgment

Cost required to enforce a contract through the courts (% of claim value)
Average attorney fees
Court costs
Enforcement costs

Quality of judicial processes index (0-18)
Court structure and proceedings (-1-5)
Case management (0-6)
Court automation (0-4)
Alternative dispute resolution (0-3)

The dispute in the case study involves the breach of a sales contract between two domestic businesses. The case study assumes that the court hears an expert on the quality of the goods in dispute. This distinguishes the case from simple debt enforcement.

To make the data on the time and comparable across economies, several assumptions about the case are used:

The dispute concerns a lawful transaction between two businesses (Seller and Buyer), both located in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city.
The Buyer orders custom-made furniture, then fails to pay alleging that the goods are not of adequate quality.
The value of the dispute is 200% of the income per capita or the equivalent in local currency of USD 5,000, whichever is greater.
The Seller sues the Buyer before the court with jurisdiction over commercial cases worth 200% of income per capita or $5,000 whichever is greater.
The Seller requests the pretrial attachment of the defendant’s movable assets to secure the claim.
The claim is disputed on the merits because of Buyer’s allegation that the quality of the goods was not adequate.
The judge decides in favor of the seller; there is no appeal.
The Seller enforces the judgment through a public sale of the Buyer’s movable assets.

Enforcing Contracts – Serbia

Standardized Case

Claim value

RSD 1,182,859

City Covered

Belgrade

Court name Belgrade Commercial Court

Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Serbia – Score

Indicator

Serbia

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Best Regulatory Performance

Time (days)

622

496.4

589.6

120 (Singapore)

Quality of judicial processes index (0-18)

13.5

10.3

11.7

None in 2018/19

Cost (% of claim value) 39.6 26.6 21.5 0.1 (Bhutan)

58.9

55.6

75.0

Time

Cost

Quality of judicial processes index

Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

DB 2020 Enforcing Contracts Score

71.0: Hungary (Rank: 25)

70.6: Croatia (Rank: 27)

67.0: Bulgaria (Rank: 42)

65.5: Regional Average (Europe &

63.1: Serbia (Rank: 65)

48.1: Greece (Rank: 146)

0 100

Central Asia)

Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of enforcing contracts is determined by sorting their scores for enforcing contracts. These scores are the simple average of the scores for each of the component indicators.

Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Serbia – Time and Cost

1800

1600

Time (days)

1400

1200

1000

800

600

400

200

Time (days) Cost (% of claim value)

1711

39.6

26.6

22.4

18.6

21.5

564

650

15.2

496.4

605 15.0

589.6

622

Cost (% of claim value)

Bulgaria Croatia Europe &

Central Asia

Greece Hungary OECD high

income

Serbia

Figure – Enforcing Contracts in Serbia and comparator economies – Measure of Quality

2.5

4.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

2.5

3.5

2.5

3.2

2.4

3.6

2.3

2.8

1.3

3.6

Serbia

Bulgaria

Croatia

Greece

Hungary

OECD high income

Europe & Central Asia

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16

Sub-Indicator Score

Alternative dispute resolution (0-3) Case management (0-6) Court automation (0-4) Court structure and proceedings (-1-5)

Details – Enforcing Contracts in Serbia

Indicator

Time (days) 622

Trial and judgment 495

Filing and service 30

Cost (% of claim value) 39.6

Enforcement of judgment 97

Court fees 13.9

Attorney fees 14.5

Quality of judicial processes index (0-18) 13.5

Enforcement fees 11.2

Case management (0-6) 4.5

Court structure and proceedings (-1-5) 5.0

Alternative dispute resolution (0-3) 2.5

Court automation (0-4) 1.5

Details – Enforcing Contracts in Serbia – Measure of Quality
	Answer	Score
Quality of judicial processes index (0-18)		13.5
Court structure and proceedings (-1-5)		5.0
1. Is there a court or division of a court dedicated solely to hearing commercial cases?	Yes	1.5
2. Small claims court		1.5
2.a. Is there a small claims court or a fast-track procedure for small claims?	Yes
2.b. If yes, is self-representation allowed?	Yes
3. Is pretrial attachment available?	Yes	1.0
4. Are new cases assigned randomly to judges?	Yes, automatic	1.0
5. Does a woman's testimony carry the same evidentiary weight in court as a man's?	Yes	0.0
Case management (0-6)		4.5
1. Time standards		1.0
1.a. Are there laws setting overall time standards for key court events in a civil case?	Yes
1.b. If yes, are the time standards set for at least three court events?	Yes
1.c. Are these time standards respected in more than 50% of cases?	Yes
2. Adjournments		0.5
2.a. Does the law regulate the maximum number of adjournments that can be granted?	No
2.b. Are adjournments limited to unforeseen and exceptional circumstances?	Yes
2.c. If rules on adjournments exist, are they respected in more than 50% of cases?	Yes
3. Can two of the following four reports be generated about the competent court: (i) time to disposition report; (ii) clearance rate report; (iii) age of pending cases report; and (iv) single case progress report?	Yes	1.0
4. Is a pretrial conference among the case management techniques used before the competent court?	Yes	1.0
5. Are there any electronic case management tools in place within the competent court for use by judges?	Yes	1.0
6. Are there any electronic case management tools in place within the competent court for use by lawyers?	No	0.0
Court automation (0-4)		1.5
1. Can the initial complaint be filed electronically through a dedicated platform within the competent court?	No	0.0
2. Is it possible to carry out service of process electronically for claims filed before the competent court?	No	0.0
3. Can court fees be paid electronically within the competent court?	Yes	1.0
4. Publication of judgments		0.5
4.a Are judgments rendered in commercial cases at all levels made available to the general public through publication in official gazettes, in newspapers or on the internet or court website?	No
4.b. Are judgments rendered in commercial cases at the appellate and supreme court level made available to the general public through publication in official gazettes, in newspapers or on the internet or court website?	Yes
Alternative dispute resolution (0-3)		2.5
1. Arbitration		1.0
1.a. Is domestic commercial arbitration governed by a consolidated law or consolidated chapter or section of the applicable code of civil procedure encompassing substantially all its aspects?	Yes
1.b. Are there any commercial disputes—aside from those that deal with public order or public policy— that cannot be submitted to arbitration?	Yes
1.c. Are valid arbitration clauses or agreements usually enforced by the courts?	Yes

2. Mediation/Conciliation 1.5

2.b. Are mediation, conciliation or both governed by a consolidated law or consolidated chapter or

section of the applicable code of civil procedure encompassing substantially all their aspects (for example, definition, aim and scope of application, desig

Yes

2.a. Is voluntary mediation or conciliation available? Yes

2.c. Are there financial incentives for parties to attempt mediation or conciliation (i.e., if mediation or conciliation is successful, a refund of court filing fees, income tax credits or the like)?

Yes

Resolving Insolvency

Doing Business studies the time, cost and outcome of insolvency proceedings involving domestic legal entities. These variables are used to calculate the recovery rate, which is recorded as cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors through reorganization, liquidation or debt enforcement (foreclosure or receivership) proceedings. To determine the present value of the amount recovered by creditors, Doing Business uses the lending rates from the International Monetary Fund, supplemented with data from central banks and the Economist Intelligence Unit. The most recent round of data collection was completed in May 2019. See the methodology for more information.

What the indicators measure

Case study assumptions

Time required to recover debt (years)

Measured in calendar years
Appeals and requests for extension are included

Cost required to recover debt (% of debtor’s estate)
Measured as percentage of estate value
Court fees
Fees of insolvency administrators
Lawyers’ fees
Assessors’ and auctioneers’ fees
Other related fees

To make the data on the time, cost and outcome comparable across economies, several assumptions about the business and the case are used:
- A hotel located in the largest city (or cities) has 201 employees and 50 suppliers. The hotel experiences financial difficulties.
- The value of the hotel is 100% of the income per capita or the equivalent in local currency of USD 200,000, whichever is greater.
- The hotel has a loan from a domestic bank, secured by a mortgage over the hotel’s real estate. The hotel cannot pay back the loan, but makes enough money to operate otherwise.
In addition, Doing Business evaluates the quality of legal framework applicable to judicial liquidation and reorganization proceedings and the extent to which best insolvency practices have been implemented in each economy covered.

Outcome
Whether business continues operating as a going concern or business assets are sold piecemeal

Recovery rate for creditors
Measures the cents on the dollar recovered by secured creditors
Outcome for the business (survival or not) determines the maximum value that can be recovered
Official costs of the insolvency proceedings are deducted
Depreciation of furniture is taken into account
Present value of debt recovered

Strength of insolvency framework index (0- 16)
Sum of the scores of four component indices:
Commencement of proceedings index (0-3)
Management of debtor’s assets index (0-6)
Reorganization proceedings index (0-3)
Creditor participation index (0-4)

Resolving Insolvency – Serbia

Indicator

Serbia

Europe & Central Asia

OECD high income

Best Regulatory Performance

Recovery rate (cents on the dollar)

34.5

38.5

70.2

92.9 (Norway)

Cost (% of estate)

20.0

13.3

9.3

1.0 (Norway)

Time (years) 2.0 2.3 1.7 0.4 (Ireland)

Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Serbia – Score

Strength of insolvency framework index (0-16)

15.5

11.2

11.9

None in 2018/19

Outcome (0 as piecemeal sale and 1 as going concern) 0 .. .. ..

37.1

96.9

Recovery rate Strength of insolvency framework index

Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

DB 2020 Resolving Insolvency Score

100

67.0: Serbia (Rank: 41)

57.8: Bulgaria (Rank: 61)

56.5: Croatia (Rank: 63)

55.7: Regional Average (Europe & Central Asia) 55.0: Hungary (Rank: 66)

53.1: Greece (Rank: 72)

0

Note: The ranking of economies on the ease of resolving insolvency is determined by sorting their scores for resolving insolvency. These scores are the simple average of the scores for the recovery rate and the strength of insolvency framework index.

Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Serbia – Time and Cost

3.5

Time (years)

2.5

1.5

0.5

Bulgaria Croatia Europe &

Central Asia

Time (years) Cost (% of estate)

3.3

3.5

3.1

20.0

14.5

2.3

13.3

14.5

2.0

9.0

1.7

9.3

Greece Hungary OECD high

income

Cost (% of estate)

Serbia

Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Serbia and comparator economies – Measure of Quality

2.5

5.5

2.5

0.5

5.3

2.8

2.1

1.9

4.5

2.5

2.3

1.7

Serbia

Bulgaria

Croatia

Greece

Hungary

OECD high income

Europe & Central Asia

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18

Sub-Indicator Score

Management of debtor's assets index (0-6) Commencement of proceedings index (0-3) Creditor participation index (0-4) Reorganization proceedings index (0-3)

Note: Even if the economy’s legal framework includes provisions related to insolvency proceedings (liquidation or reorganization), the economy receives 0 points for the strength of insolvency framework index, if time, cost and outcome indicators are recorded as “no practice.”

Figure – Resolving Insolvency in Serbia and comparator economies – Recovery Rate

44.2

37.7

38.5

34.5

35.2

32.0

Recovery rate(cents on the dollar)

Serbia Bulgaria Croatia Greece Hungary Europe & Central Asia

Details – Resolving Insolvency in Serbia

Indicator Answer Score

Proceeding liquidation (after an attempt at reorganization)

As Mirage wants to keep the hotel operating, it will likely petition the court to start reorganization proceedings (either pre-packed reorganization under Article 155 or ordinary reorganization under Article 161 of the Bankruptcy Law). The reorganization plan however most likely will be rejected by creditors, which will trigger mandatory liquidation proceeding under Article 165 of the Bankruptcy Law.

Time (in years)

2.0

It takes approximately 2 years to resolve insolvency in Serbia. According to the New Bankruptcy Legislation, the reorganization plan may be submitted within 90 days as from the date of opening of bankruptcy proceedings.

Bankruptcy judge is obliged to call the hearing for consideration of reorganization plan and voting on reorganization plan within 90 days as from the receipt of reorganization plan, whereby the hearing cannot be held before the elapse of 60 days as from the date of submission of reorganization plan. The public announcement on the hearing on reorganization plan is published on the electronic court board, in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia and in at least one newspapers widely disseminated on the territory of the Republic of Serbia. All parties having complaints to the reorganization plan are requested to submit such complaints within 15 days as from the date of public announcement made in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia. The reorganization plan is voted in respective classes of creditors. To be adopted, the reorganization plan must be voted for in all classes of creditors. On the reorganization plan hearing, the bankruptcy judge renders the decision on adoption of the reorganization plan or it proclaims that the reorganization plan has not been adopted. Once the decision on adoption of reorganization plan becomes final, the bankruptcy proceedings are suspended. Once the reorganization plan is rejected, the reorganization proceedings are converted into liquidation proceedings. Once all the claims are finalized, the creditors should approve the manner of the sale proposed by the bankruptcy administrator. The bankruptcy administrator organizes the sale of the assets of bankruptcy debtor. After the sale, the bankruptcy administrator should prepare the distribution of the proceeds of the sale to the creditors in accordance with the conclusion on accepted claims. There is

one more hearing to finalize the distribution list, after which the proceeds of the sale are distributed.

Outcome piecemeal sale As the hotel is unable to repay its loan to BizBank and expects to have negative net worth and operating losses for the next two years, it is unlikely that it will continue operating.

Recovery rate

(cents on the dollar)

34.5

Cost (% of estate) 20.0 The total cost of the proceedings (liquidation after an attempt at reorganization) will amount to approximately 20% of the value of the hotel. Major expenses include remuneration of the insolvency representative – around 10%; attorneys' fees – around 5%; auctioneer's fees – 2%, accountants' fees – 2%; and court's fees – 1%.

Details – Resolving Insolvency in Serbia – Measure of Quality
	Answer	Score
Strength of insolvency framework index (0-16)		15.5
Commencement of proceedings index (0-3)		2.5
What procedures are available to a DEBTOR when commencing insolvency proceedings?	(a) Debtor may file for both liquidation and reorganization	1.0
Does the insolvency framework allow a CREDITOR to file for insolvency of the debtor?	(b) Yes, but a creditor may file for liquidation only	0.5
What basis for commencement of the insolvency proceedings is allowed under the insolvency framework? (a) Debtor is generally unable to pay its debts as they mature (b) The value of debtor's liabilities exceeds the value of its assets	(c) Both (a) and (b) options are available, but only one of them needs to be complied with	1.0
Management of debtor's assets index (0-6)		6.0
Does the insolvency framework allow the continuation of contracts supplying essential goods and services to the debtor?	Yes	1.0
Does the insolvency framework allow the rejection by the debtor of overly burdensome contracts?	Yes	1.0
Does the insolvency framework allow avoidance of preferential transactions?	Yes	1.0
Does the insolvency framework allow avoidance of undervalued transactions?	Yes	1.0
Does the insolvency framework provide for the possibility of the debtor obtaining credit after commencement of insolvency proceedings?	Yes	1.0
Does the insolvency framework assign priority to post-commencement credit?	(b) Yes over ordinary unsecured creditors but not over secured creditors	1.0
Reorganization proceedings index (0-3)		3.0
Which creditors vote on the proposed reorganization plan?	(b) Only creditors whose rights are affected by the proposed plan	1.0
Does the insolvency framework require that dissenting creditors in reorganization receive at least as much as what they would obtain in a liquidation?	Yes	1.0
Are the creditors divided into classes for the purposes of voting on the reorganization plan, does each class vote separately and are creditors in the same class treated equally?	Yes	1.0
Creditor participation index (0-4)		4.0
Does the insolvency framework require approval by the creditors for selection or appointment of the insolvency representative?	Yes	1.0
Does the insolvency framework require approval by the creditors for sale of substantial assets of the debtor?	Yes	1.0
Does the insolvency framework provide that a creditor has the right to request information from the insolvency representative?	Yes	1.0
Does the insolvency framework provide that a creditor has the right to object to decisions accepting or rejecting creditors' claims?	Yes	1.0

Note: Even if the economy’s legal framework includes provisions related to insolvency proceedings (liquidation or reorganization), the economy receives 0 points for the strength of insolvency framework index, if time, cost and outcome indicators are recorded as “no practice.”

Employing Workers

Doing Business presents detailed data for the employing workers indicators on the Doing Business website (http://www.doingbusiness.org). The study does not present rankings of economies on these indicators or include the topic in the aggregate ease of doing business score or ranking on the ease of doing business.

The most recent round of data collection was completed in May 2019. See the methodology for more information.

What the indicators measure

Hiring

(i) whether fixed-term contracts are prohibited for permanent tasks; (ii) maximum cumulative duration of fixed-term contracts;

(iii) length of the maximum probationary period; (iv) minimum wage;(v) ratio of minimum wage to the average value added per worker.

Working hours

(i) maximum number of working days allowed per week; (ii) premiums for work: at night, on a weekly rest day and overtime;

(iii) whether there are restrictions on work at night, work on a weekly rest day and for overtime work; (iv) length of paid annual leave.

Redundancy rules

(i) whether redundancy can be basis for terminating workers; (ii) whether employer needs to notify and/or get approval from third party to terminate 1 redundant worker and a group of 9 redundant workers; (iii) whether the law requires employer to reassign or retrain a worker before making worker redundant; (iv) whether priority rules apply for redundancies and reemployment.

To make the data comparable across economies, several assumptions about the worker and the business are used.

The worker:

Is a cashier in a supermarket or grocery store, age 19, with one year of work experience.
Is a full-time employee.
Is not a member of the labor union, unless membership is mandatory.

The business:
Is a limited liability company (or the equivalent in the economy).
Operates a supermarket or grocery store in the economy’s largest business city. For 11 economies the data are also collected for the second largest business city.
Has 60 employees.
Is subject to collective bargaining agreements if such agreements cover more than 50% of the food retail sector and they apply even to firms that are not party to them.
Abides by every law and regulation but does not grant workers more benefits than those mandated by law, regulation or (if applicable) collective bargaining agreements.

Redundancy cost

(i) notice period for redundancy dismissal; (ii) severance payments, and (iii) penalties due when terminating a redundant worker. Data on the availability of unemployment protection for a worker with one year of employment is also collected.

Employing Workers – Serbia

Details – Employing Workers in Serbia

Hiring

Fixed-term contracts prohibited for permanent tasks? Yes

Maximum length of a single fixed-term contract (months) 24.0

Maximum length of fixed-term contracts, including renewals (months) 24.0

Minimum wage applicable to the worker assumed in the case study (US$/month) 250.1

Maximum length of probationary period (months) 6.0

Ratio of minimum wage to value added per worker 0.3

Working hours

Standard workday 8.0

Maximum number of working days per week 6.0

Premium for night work (% of hourly pay) 26.0

Premium for work on weekly rest day (% of hourly pay) 110.0

Premium for overtime work (% of hourly pay) 26.0

Restrictions on night work? No

Restrictions on weekly holiday? No

Restrictions on overtime work? No

Paid annual leave for a worker with 1 year of tenure (working days) 20.0

Paid annual leave for a worker with 5 years of tenure (working days) 20.0

Paid annual leave for a worker with 10 years of tenure (working days) 20.0

Paid annual leave (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure, in working days) 20.0

Redundancy rules

Dismissal due to redundancy allowed by law? Yes

Third-party notification if one worker is dismissed? No

Third-party approval if one worker is dismissed? No

Third-party notification if nine workers are dismissed? No

Third-party approval if nine workers are dismissed? No

Retraining or reassignment obligation before redundancy? Yes

Priority rules for redundancies? No

Priority rules for reemployment? Yes

Redundancy cost

Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 1 year of tenure (weeks of salary) 0.0

Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 5 years of tenure (weeks of salary) 0.0

Notice period for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 10 years of tenure (weeks of salary) 0.0

Notice period for redundancy dismissal (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure, in weeks of salary) 0.0

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 1 year of tenure (weeks of salary) 1.4

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 5 years of tenure (weeks of salary) 7.2

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal for a worker with 10 years of tenure (weeks of salary) 14.4

Unemployment protection after one year of employment? Yes

Severance pay for redundancy dismissal (average for workers with 1, 5 and 10 years of tenure, in weeks of salary) 7.7

PEO Serbia

Serbia has emerged as a compelling choice for companies considering a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) arrangement. With its strategic location at the crossroads of Europe, a skilled and educated workforce, and a growing economy, Serbia offers a favorable environment for businesses seeking to expand. As a PEO destination, Serbia provides an efficient and streamlined solution for managing HR, payroll, and compliance, allowing companies to navigate local regulations and administrative complexities with ease. The country’s commitment to innovation and its evolving business landscape further contribute to its attractiveness. By leveraging Serbia’s PEO services, companies can access a pool of talent, explore new markets, and establish a solid presence in this dynamic region.

In Serbia, Professional Employer Organization (PEO) services provide a valuable solution for businesses seeking to simplify their human resources management. These services encompass a range of HR tasks, including payroll administration, employee benefits management, tax compliance, and regulatory adherence. By collaborating with a PEO in Serbia, companies can offload the intricacies of HR functions to experts well-versed in local labor laws and regulations. This partnership ensures that businesses remain compliant and can allocate their resources more effectively. PEO services also grant the flexibility for companies to focus on their core operations while confidently expanding their presence in Serbia, as the PEO takes care of the essential HR aspects, fostering a smoother business experience overall.

Business Reforms in Serbia

From May 2, 2018 to May 1, 2019, 115 economies implemented 294 business regulatory reforms across the 10 areas measured by Doing Business. Reforms inspired by

Doing Business have been implemented by economies in all regions. The following are reforms implemented since Doing Business 2008. =Doing Business reform making it easier to do business. = Change making it more difficult to do business.

DB2020

Starting a Business: Serbia made starting a business more complicated by requiring that entrepreneurs obtain an electronic certificate and register the ultimate beneficial owners separately after incorporation.

Dealing with Construction Permits: Serbia made dealing with construction permits easier by implementing a new online portal and by reducing administrative fees.

Getting Electricity: Serbia improved the reliability of power supply by reengineering substations, installing remote control systems and improving grid maintenance.

Protecting Minority Investors: Serbia strengthened minority investor protections by requiring an external review and immediate disclosure of related-party transactions, increasing shareholder rights in major decisions, clarifying ownership and control structures, and requiring greater corporate transparency.

Paying Taxes: Serbia made paying taxes easier by introducing internal deadlines to refund value added tax credits.

Enforcing Contracts: Serbia made enforcing contracts easier by establishing financial incentives for the parties to attempt mediation.

Resolving Insolvency: Serbia made resolving insolvency easier by requiring creditors to approve the appointment of the insolvency representative and providing them with the right to information on the financial status of the debtor.

DB2019

Dealing with Construction Permits: Serbia reduced the time it takes to obtain a construction permit by introducing an electronic application system.

DB2018

Starting a Business: Serbia made starting a business easier by reducing the signature certification fee and increasing the efficiency of the registry, reducing the time for business registration.

Registering Property: Serbia improved the reliability of its land administration system by implementing a geographic information system.

Enforcing Contracts: Serbia made enforcing contracts easier by adopting a new enforcement law that broadens and clarifies the responsibilities of enforcement agents as well as the powers of the courts during the enforcement process.

DB2017

Starting a Business: Serbia simplified the process of starting a business by reducing the time to register a company.

Dealing with Construction Permits: Serbia made dealing with construction permits faster by implementing an online system and streamlining the process of obtaining technical conditions for the building permit.

Registering Property: Serbia simplified property transfer process by introducing effective time limits.

DB2016

Dealing with Construction Permits: Serbia made dealing with construction permits less costly by eliminating the land development tax for warehouses. On the other hand, it also introduced a mandatory inspection of foundation works.

Paying Taxes: Serbia made paying taxes easier for companies by introducing an electronic system for filing and paying VAT and social security contributions as well as by abolishing the urban land usage fee. On the other hand, Serbia increased the property tax and environmental tax rates.

DB2015

Registering Property: Serbia made transferring property more difficult by eliminating the expedited procedure for registering a property transfer.

DB2014

Paying Taxes: Serbia made paying taxes more costly for companies by increasing the corporate income tax.

DB2013

Starting a Business: Serbia made starting a business easier by eliminating the paid-in minimum capital requirement.

Enforcing Contracts: Serbia made enforcing contracts easier by introducing a private bailiff system.

Resolving Insolvency: Serbia strengthened its insolvency process by introducing private bailiffs, reducing the starting prices for the sale of assets, prohibiting appeals, expediting service of process and adopting an electronic registry for injunctions to make public all prohibitions on the disposal or pledge of movable or immovable property.

Page 69

DB2012

Registering Property: Serbia made transferring property quicker by offering an expedited option.

Resolving Insolvency: Serbia adopted legislation introducing professional requirements for insolvency administrators and regulating their compensation.

DB2011

Registering Property: Serbia made transferring property easier by decreasing notary costs for non-public documents.

Resolving Insolvency: Serbia passed a new bankruptcy law that introduced out-of-court workouts and a unified reorganization procedure.

DB2010

Starting a Business: Serbia made starting a business easier by creating a one-stop shop for company registration.

Getting Credit: Serbia improved access to credit information by guaranteeing by law borrowers’ right to inspect their own data.

Employing Workers:

Serbia introduced priority rules applying to redundancy dismissals or layoffs.

DB2009

Dealing with Construction Permits: In Serbia an administrative backlog at the Belgrade Municipality’s Construction Department increased the time required for obtaining building permits.

Registering Property: Serbia reduced the cost to transfer property by lowering the property transfer tax.

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Economy Profile of Serbia

Ease of Doing Business in Serbia

Rankings on Doing Business topics – Serbia

Topic Scores

Starting a Business

What the indicators measure

Procedures to legally start and formally operate a company (number)

Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)

Cost required to complete each procedure (% of income per capita)

Paid-in minimum capital (% of income per capita)

The business:

The owners:

Starting a Business – Serbia

Figure – Starting a Business in Serbia – Score

Figure – Starting a Business in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

Figure – Starting a Business in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

Details – Starting a Business in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

1 Notarize the memorandum of association

Register the employment contracts with the Employment Organization/Fund

Register Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBO)

Dealing with Construction Permits

What the indicators measure

Case study assumptions

Procedures to legally build a warehouse (number)

Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)

Cost required to complete each procedure (% of income per capita)

Building quality control index (0-15)

The construction company (BuildCo):

The warehouse:

The water and sewerage connections:

Dealing with Construction Permits – Serbia

Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia – Score

Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

0 100

Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

* This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure.

Figure – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia and comparator economies – Measure of Quality

Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

Request and obtain location conditions from the Secretariat of Urban Planning and Construction of the City of Belgrade

Request and obtain building permit

Details – Dealing with Construction Permits in Serbia – Measure of Quality

Building quality control index (0-15)

14.0

Quality of building regulations index (0-2) 2.0

Quality control before construction index (0-1)

1.0

Quality control during construction index (0-3)

2.0

Quality control after construction index (0-3) 3.0

Liability and insurance regimes index (0-2)

2.0

Professional certifications index (0-4) 4.0

Getting Electricity

What the indicators measure

Case study assumptions

Procedures to obtain an electricity connection (number)

Time required to complete each procedure (calendar days)

Cost required to complete each procedure (% of income per capita)

The reliability of supply and transparency of tariffs index (0-8)

The warehouse:

The electricity connection:

The monthly consumption:

Price of electricity (cents per kilowatt-hour)*

Getting Electricity – Serbia

Figure – Getting Electricity in Serbia – Score

Figure – Getting Electricity in Serbia and comparator economies – Ranking and Score

0 100

Figure – Getting Electricity in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

* This symbol is shown beside procedure numbers that take place simultaneously with the previous procedure.

Figure – Getting Electricity in Serbia and comparator economies – Measure of Quality

Details – Getting Electricity in Serbia – Procedure, Time and Cost

Submit application to One Stop Shop (OSS) for location conditions

Await completion of external works by EPSD

Receive inspection of internal wiring

Sign contract with power supply company

Receive meter installation and await final connection

Details – Getting Electricity in Serbia – Measure of Quality

Reliability of supply and transparency of tariff index (0-8) 6

Total duration and frequency of outages per customer a year (0-3) 2

Mechanisms for monitoring outages (0-1) 1