Regulatory Framework for Metro in Serbia

The Law on Metro and City Railway was adopted

In order to accelerate the implementation of the „Belgrade Metro” project, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted the Law on Metro and City Railways (the “Law“) at a session held on 20 May 2021. The Law was published in ” Official Gazette of RS” no. 52/2021 of 24 May 2021, and enters into force on 1 June 2021.

The constitutional basis for the enactment of this Law is contained in the provisions of Article 97, item 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, which stipulate that the Republic of Serbia, among other things, regulates the organization and use of space.

This Law regulates:

• regulatory, technical and other conditions for safe, reliable and orderly traffic of metro systems and city railways;
• conditions that employees must meet;
• management of the infrastructure of the metro system and the city railway;
• performing passenger transport activities and public passenger transport services by metro system and city railway of general interest.
• The provisions of this Law apply to metro systems and urban railways functionally independent of public railway infrastructure.

All other issues not specifically regulated by this Law, which relate to the functioning of the metro system, shall be subject to the provisions of regulations governing expropriation, provisions of regulations governing the construction of facilities, construction and reconstruction of line infrastructure facilities and regulations governing general administrative procedures.

The Law defines structural and functional subsystems as elements of the metro system. The professional and functional requirements of the metro system subsystem are defined, as well as ensuring safe, reliable and orderly traffic flow.

The license for the use of the subsystem is issued on the basis of the certificate of verification of the subsystem and the accompanying technical documentation.

Before issuing a license for the use of structural subsystems, the Railway Directorate (“Directorate“) checks:

• technical compliance of these subsystems with the metro system in which they are integrated;
• safe integration of these subsystems by applying risk control measures.

The use permit is issued in the form of a decision. The application for the issuance of a license for use may be submitted by the operator of the metro system or the manufacturer of the subsystem or its part or his authorized representative in the Republic of Serbia.

The verification of the subsystem for which the use permit is issued is a procedure in which the conformity assessment body checks and confirms that the subsystem meets the basic requirements.

In a separate chapter, the Law regulates the safety of the metro system. The metro system manager is obliged to establish a safety management system, which aims to control all risks related to its own activities, the activities of suppliers and subcontractors and the environment at the prescribed level, in accordance with the basic requirements.

The manager must have a certificate of safety of the metro system issued by the Directorate in the form of a decision.

The Law contains a special chapter concerning public passenger transport in the metro system.

At the end of the Law itself, there are penal provisions for economic offenses and misdemeanours.

Economic offenses:

• A fine of RSD 500.000 to 3.000.00 will be imposed on a company or other legal entity for an economic offense if it does not act in accordance with Articles 9 and 12 of the Law. While the responsible person in the legal entity will be fined from RSD 50.000 to 200.000.

• A fine of RSD 500.000 to 3.000.000 will be imposed on a company or other legal entity for an economic offense, if the employee does not have the appropriate education, in accordance with the provisions of the Law. While the responsible person in the legal entity will be fined from RSD 50.000 to 200.000.

• A fine of RSD 50.000 to 1.000.000 will be imposed on a company or other legal entity for an economic offense, if it does not publish information on the public passenger transport services it provides. While the responsible person in the legal entity will be fined from RSD 5.000 to 200.000.

Misdemeanours:

• A fine of RSD 500.000 to 2.000.000 shall be imposed on a company or other legal entity for a misdemeanour, for preventing metro traffic from taking place safely, in accordance with Article 27 of this Law. While the responsible person in the legal entity will be fined from RSD 5.000 to 150.000.

A fine of RSD 50.000 to 500.000 is prescribed for an entrepreneur for the same misdemeanour.

The Ministry of Transport, Construction and Infrastructure of the Republic of Serbia (the “Ministry“) supervises the implementation of this Law.

Inspection supervision is performed by the Ministry through the Republic Inspector for Railway Traffic.

The need for the adoption of this Law is reflected in accelerating the start of construction of the Belgrade Metro, enabling faster and simpler project implementation, from the process of acquiring land to issuing the necessary permits, and accelerating the public procurement process necessary for the implementation of this project.