Digital Incorporation of Companies Coming Soon

DIGITALIZATION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A COMPANY IN SERBIA FROM 2023

In order to improve the conditions for starting a business, amendments were made to the Law on Registration Procedure in the Business Registers Agency (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 99/2011, 83/2014, 31/2019 and 105/2021, the “Law“) which stipulates that the application for the establishment of a company is submitted to the Business Registers Agency (the “BRA“) in electronic form, which is in line with the concept of e-Government and digitalization of the entire economy.

In addition, the latest amendments seek to eliminate legal gaps and problems identified in the application of the Law.

Until the entry into force of these changes, there is an optional submission of the registration application for the establishment of a company in paper or electronic form. When on 16 May 2023 the provision of Article 9, paragraph 2 of the Law finally enters into force in full, the submission of the registration application in paper form with a certified founding act goes down in history.

In addition to the above, the Law also brings novelties that include:

• Introduction of the possibility of certification of a digitized act by a lawyer;
• BRA obtaining documentation from other state bodies ex officio;
• The issue of filing a registration application by the founders in situations of dismissal of the director has also been regulated;
• Deadlines for decision-making of the BRA after the submission of the registration application are defined and regulated in more detail.

Bearing in mind the longer deadline left to all relevant entities for the application and implementation of this provision, as well as that until 16 May 2021 it is expected that the application on the BRA website which enables the electronic submission of registration applications for the establishment of a company will be improved, we believe that the establishment of a company will be significantly facilitated in the future.