JPM & Partners

The energy development strategy of the Republic of Serbia until 2025 with projections until 2030,as well as the Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan, which is currently being developed and adopted,

The Serbian Ministry of Justice released a Data Protection Strategy Proposal for 2023-2030 and invited stakeholders to participate in public discussion.

On 24 March 2023, the Commission for the Protection of the Competition (“Commission”) initiated an investigation against the Hotelsko, Ugostiteljsko i Turističko preduzeće Moskva doo (“Moskva”) for possible gun-jumping.

The Ministry of Finance published, at the end of -March 2023, its eleventh Regulation on interest rates which are considered to be in line with the "arm’s length" principle. The Ministry of Finance, i.e. the Minister issues this Regulation every year and it pertains to the interest rates for that year.

The latest amendments to the Law on Personal Income Tax, in the part that refers to tax exemptions for tax on capital gains of natural persons, have expanded the scope of exceptions to the taxation of capital gains. However, it does not seem to be done in a coherent and comprehensive way.

In the Republic of Serbia, there is a number of various incentives for startups, stretching from state aid incentives to private support programs, which represent either a form of financing and subsidization of startups or a form of tax relief with the aim nonetheless to help innovative businesses grow and keeping the economy sustainable. Through various incentives and accompanying programs, the Republic of Serbia is working to create an environment that encourages the development of new, original, and innovative businesses from all respectable areas.

The latest amendments to the Law on Personal Income Tax, in the part that refers to tax exemptions for tax on capital gains of natural persons, have expanded the scope of exceptions to the taxation of capital gains. However, it does not seem to be done in a coherent and comprehensive way.

After the publication of the draft of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction, a series of public hearings on the proposed draft law was held in February 2023, and now we are waiting for the final wording of the proposal of the amendments and the lawmaker’s response to the of proposals and objections raised during the public hearings.

The renewables sector in the Republic of Serbia has been growing for a while with a focus on wind energy, solar energy, biomass, and biogas and as recently on agrivoltaics.

In Montenegro, the Law on protection of personal data is still in power, and was last amended on April 3, 2017 („LPPI“)

We are pleased to announce that JPM Partner Djordje Novcic has been appointed by the Serbian National Committee as one of the Delegates to the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR (the ‘Commission’).

The Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning, and Urbanism of Montenegro („Ministry“) enacted a Rulebook on closer criteria for the assessment of requests for the issuance of urbanistic-technical conditions for the construction of facilities for the production of electricity from renewable sources of the sun and other renewable sources (“Rulebook”). The Rulebook entered into force on the day of its publication in the Official Gazette of Montenegro, i.e., on 12 October 2022.

Government of the Republic of Serbia has adopted on yesterday session 5 Regulations by which the Republic of Serbia harmonizes its legislation with the EU natural gas network codes, the obligation of which exists for the Republic of Serbia as the contracting state of the Energy Community.

The Fiscal Council of the Republic of Serbia published on 29 September 2022 the „Proposal of social and tax policy measures for reducing inequality and poverty risks in the Republic of Serbia“. One of the proposed measures of tax policy for reducing inequality is doubling the limit of non-taxable salary amount, from RSD 19,300 to RSD 40,000 and introduction of non-taxable census of RSD 20,000 per month, to be granted for each household member – dependent. In order to maintain the existing level of budgetary funds, should this proposed reform of individual income tax be adopted, i.e. in order to prevent decrease of budgetary funds due to the reform, it is necessary to increase the salary tax rate from 10% to 15% in parallel with increase of non-taxable census and introduction of non-taxable census for household members-dependents.

To comply with the highest European standards and safety conditions – Law on amendments to the Law on payment transactions (“Law”) has been adopted in the Parliament of Montenegro on 29 September 2022. Free movement of capital and full compliance with the Payment Service Directive 2 (“PSD2”) were main reasons for adopting the Law which shall ensure that the provisions of payment services in Montenegro are regulated in the same way as in the member states of the European Union.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia rendered the new Ordinance on Conditions, Manner and Procedure for Awarding the State-owned Agricultural Land for Use for Non-agricultural Purpose, that came into force on 10 September 2022.

According to the latest Position published by the Serbian Commission for the Protection of Competition, it is prescribed whether and in which cases the scope of one concentration can be several undertakings that are not considered interrelated.

Despite being one of the most turbulent periods in the history of the mankind, 20th century represents one of the brightest spots in the evolution of technology. Except for the general enthusiasm in all branches over the industry, the second half of the century has been fertile when it comes to executing some revolutionary ideas. In the late 50s, an American scientist, a member of the team that worked on the development of the first nuclear bomb, has created something yet unseen, something that will be recognized as one of the fastest growing industries in the years to come.

Despite being already recognized as one of the leading European countries regarding foreign investments, the Republic of Serbia continues its active policy of attracting foreign investors. The direct consequence of the substantial increasement in investments in a plethora of different fields is the fact that there are even more and more foreign natural and legal persons willing to invest in producing audiovisual works on the territory of the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Serbia recognized this trend and took measures to improve the environment for investing in audiovisual works within the so-called creative industries (e.g. films, short films, TV shows, documentaries, animated films, etc. ‘’Industry’’).

The Energy Agency of the Republic of Serbia (“AERS”) adopted three decisions on amendments of the following methodologies, on its session held on 7 July 2022:

Today, perhaps more than ever before, commercial use of Software is of great value and many Software developers design and develop Software for licensing or sale to end users, or those serving a commercial purpose in an ever-growing market.

Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Regulation on Criteria for Granting Incentives to the Employers who Employ Newly Inhabited Persons in the Republic of Serbia (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulation”), published in the Official Gazette of the RS no. 67/22 and entered into force on 18 June 2022.

Serbian Personal Income Tax Law and Serbian Corporate Income Tax Law, as well as the Serbian Law on Mandatory Social Insurance Contributions, prescribe tax and social insurance contributions related reliefs for companies that conduct activities of research and development in the Republic of Serbia.

Electronic measurement of working hours based on processing of location data is permitted under data protection and labour regulations under the following conditions:

We are happy to announce continued cooperation with Luminance and the adoption of their AI-powered platform – eDiscovery.

JPM Parter Ivan Milosevic and Senior Associate Andrea Cvetanovic participated in BvD Autumn Conference Data Protection and Supervisory Authority Day 2020 in Mannheim, Germany.