Fic rEcommEndationS - Eurobank EFG

allows a party to initiate enforcement proceedings even
on the basis of a foreign authentic document (e.g. invoice,
promissory note, etc.). The Law establishes the activities
of so-called private bailiffs that conduct their activities either
as entrepreneurs or in the form of a partnership. The
bailiffs have to fulfil special requirements, such as to have
passed the bailiff’s exam, possessing certain characteristics
required by the Law and required working experience.
Their role is aimed at increasing the efficiency of enforcement
proceedings, at least where debtors are natural persons.
The new Law on Civil Procedure introduces promising
improvements in terms of summoning and notification
of the parties and other participants in the procedure,
in order to prevent present abuses by the parties. These
improvements also address the option of electronic communication
between parties and the court, in accordance
with special laws (the Law on Electronic Documents
and the Law on Electronic Signature). The concentration
of the main hearing and evidence-presentation procedure
and deadlines for presenting evidences within the
main hearing are also notable improvements. In this regard,
the court has an obligation to render a time frame
for the main hearing and for producing evidence. Parties
may propose evidence only before the end of the preliminary
hearing, and after that only exceptionally. This law
establishes liability of the judges for breach of discipline,
where they can be faulted for delays in the procedure. The
law also imposes higher fines for the parties that abuse
the proceedings. The appellate courts are also provided
with a deadline to render an appellate decision – within
9 months from the moment when they received the case
files. Last, the parties are finally provided with equal rights
in remedial procedures so the deadlines to submit the
legal remedies are equal to the deadlines to provide the
response to such legal remedies.
The new Legal Profession Act established the Bar Academy
attached to the Bar Chamber. The Bar Academy will commence
its operations as of May 2012 with the purpose to
ensure improved education of attorneys. Introducing the
possibility for foreign attorneys to be registered with the
Bar Chamber in Serbia will introduce fair competition on
the Serbian legal services market and consequently the
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improvement in the quality of legal services. The said Law
should have contained the limitation based on the principle
of reciprocity in order to ensure equal chances for Serbian
attorneys on other markets of legal services. In the
previous Legal Profession Act, the possibility for foreign
attorneys to represent parties in Serbia was allowed only
exceptionally.
The re-introduction of the public notary into the Serbian
legal system is an especially notable positive improvement
of the Serbian legal system. Public notaries will
contribute to removing significant workload from courts,
which are overwhelmed by requests of parties for notarisation
of various documents. Public notaries will draft,
certify and issue public documents on legal transactions,
statements and facts based on which rights are created,
certify private documents, take the documents, money,
securities and other movable property into deposit and
conduct other activities in accordance with the Law. Public
notaries will also take over the jurisdiction from courts
in most civil extra-judicial matters, leaving only the most
important matters within the jurisdiction of courts, among
which the expropriation indemnity and the maintenance
of public registries should be mentioned.
rEmaininG iSSUES
The most important issue is the completion of the reappointment
procedure of judges, as well as the increase in
the number of judges. Allocation of work among courts of
different jurisdiction, as well as among judges is another
issue that has to be resolved. In order to make the judicial
system more accessible and available to citizens, it is necessary
to establish functional online data registries in the
remaining courts.
The new Law on Civil Procedure is introduced as a significant
improvement to its predecessor. It is aimed to secure
modern up-to-date civil procedure and litigation. However,
it is still too early to comment on its practical issues. The
possible source of problems in the application of this new
law may stem from the poor organizational reform of the
Serbian judiciary, as mentioned above. Other issues could
be related to the possibility of electronic communication
between the parties and the court in terms of lack of clear
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